Persona Etz Chaim
by TheTragicNoir
Summary: When a teenager moved to live with his estranged father and sister, a mystery arises when strange symbols appeared around various places on the island. As weird events started to warped reality, our protagonist must ally himself with other students to solve the mystery behind those occurrences in a world stuck in the past. Welcome to Paradise, because it won't last.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone, I wrote this last year but never published it because I couldn't find a good time to make corrections. It is still not perfect yet, and I won't be able to update it often. I hope you like it since I try to make my works more original stories while being as faithful as possible. Enjoy it.**

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." A creepy man with a long nose greeted a young man. He was laying on a comfy therapist chair while the older man was sitting behind a desk. "This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. My name is Igor, and this is my assistant Victoria." This old man calling himself 'Igor' was accompanied by a young lady with pale-blonde and yellow eyes with a blue nurse outfit.

She was standing next to Igor white a weak smile. She barely showed any emotion. "It is my pleasure to meet you, sir." She said politely. "We are in here to serve and heal you while you are our guest."

"Serve and heal me? I don't understand who are you or why I'm doing here." The young man replied to those to ambiguously friendly strangers.

"We cannot tell you much about those details for the moment. When the time comes, we will tell you everything you need until you wake up at your destination. Now then, why don't you tell us your name, young man?" Despite his creepy eyes and slasher smile, Igor didn't show any sensation of threat towards the teenager.

"Sure, I guess…My name is Shin Maeda. Can you tell me why I'm in this place? Here looks like a surgery room or something." This young man called Shin was looking around the Velvet Room. That weird place was indeed a surgeon's room but with old machines, a table with chains attached to the ceiling, and some large capsules on the bottom of the room.

"Seems that you are still grasping your surroundings, don't worry, Mr. Maeda. We will explain to you all about this place in due time. It is almost time for you to wake up; we will be waiting for your return until you form a contract of some sort." Victoria explained to Shin about his short visit to that place.

"You seem tired after a long trip; we are not going to bother you until you come back to this room. Until your next visit, farewell." The place started to look blurry for Shin, as he began to heel a little light-head as the room began to disappear.

* * *

**04/04, Wednesday, Evening. **

Shin woke up on a passenger seat while holding his backpack and a heavy suitcase by his side. He looked outside of the window to see how much left to arrive at his destination. Shin was traveling in a boat in the middle of the ocean; it already passed 3 hours since he left the port.

He was waiting to arrive at Kaishi Island: A touristic island on the south of Japan, known for its nature, traditions, and modern infrastructure. It was a weird combination of a fisherman bay, homes from the last century, and a city with a massive population in the middle of the island. That place has almost everything some could ask: Peaceful suburbia side next to a modern city with a lot of entertainment and everything with mountains and a beach. It was paradise. Shin was astonished by how his family lived in a place like that for years. They were most likely waiting for him at the port.

It didn't take too much time until the captain spoke through the boat's speakers. He was loud. _"Attention, passengers. We are arriving at Kaishi Island in 15 minutes. I suggest everybody take your belongings and stay in your seats until we arrive at our destination. I hope all of you enjoyed traveling with us. Until next trip…"_ The captain was done talking; Shin grabbed his stuff with him and looked at the island from a fair distance. He was able to see the city hidden among the trees and some houses on the hills. The port was the most obvious thing on the island. Shin looked at the pamphlet to see what offers to his new home. Nothing was like his previous home.

"Mhhh, what a weird dream, what those people were referring to serve and heal?" Shin asked himself about the vision he had. There were so many questions but not a logical answer for some of them. He didn't mind, though, because the boat finally stopped. "Well, I should get going." Shin stood up from his seat and carried everything with him.

After leaving the boat, Shin took out a note about someone who would be waiting for him at the port. He had a picture of his father and sister together, that could help him to identify them. There was nobody around the harbor. The teenager walked into a public restroom to refresh himself after a long trip. After using the toilet and washing his hands, he looked at himself in the mirror. He examined everything about his appearance: He had short black hair with a crew cut. His eyes were color dark-brown. He was using a black camo jacket with a green and white pattern. He looked beautiful so far he could tell. After comparing him and his relative's picture, he went to the conclusion that they didn't look much like him except for the hair colors and eyes.

Walking outside of the restrooms, he noticed a teenager sitting on the bench. She dressed bright colors on her blouse and skirt, with black stocking and brown shoes. She looked like his sister with the only difference is the shorter hair. Shin walked towards her and asked. "Excuse me, but are you, Hikaru Matsui?"

"Yes I am, you must be Shin." She stood up after saying his name. The conversation felt awkward. "I suppose you already know that I'm your sister."

"Fraternal twin, pretty weird, huh?" Shin cracked a smile, but he wasn't laughing. He didn't know exactly what to say to someone who is your sister and never knew about her existence, neither she. "So…where is our dad?"

"Him? He was busy at work, and he asked me to pick you up at the port. You arrived earlier than expected." She sounded disappointed about not being with her dad today. "Well, now that you are here, we should walk home; it is not too far from here." The brunette pointed to Shin where to go. It didn't bother him to walk.

While walking to their home, she started to ask questions about Shin. "Tell me, how did you know about my father and me? He never mentioned anything about you or our mother." She looked curious about Shin's sudden appearance.

"To tell the truth, I found a picture of us as babies and some letters. I was shocked as much as you." Shin was feeling a little awkward to talk about it.

"I can imagine it, separated since birth…" Hikaru fell silent for a moment. She couldn't say a single word.

"Hey, Kaishi looked pretty nice in the pamphlet. What you can tell me about here?" Shin tried to change the topic so he wouldn't have to deal with an awkward silence until they arrive at home.

"This place is great; we have the fun of any other major city and the peace of any country town." Her mood became more cheerful after talking about her home. "We got a lot of touristic places like shrines, temples, woods, and a beach…" She couldn't stop talking about the island.

"Well, it seems that you know a lot this place." Shin made a small smile after looking at her sister in a more upbeat behavior.

"I lived on this island since I was born. It would be hard for me to leave my home." She loved that place. "Why you decided to come here?"

"Well…" Shin had some struggle to pick the right words. "I wanted to meet the family I never knew. Maybe it was twin telepathy, isn't it?"

"I don't think it is how it works."

"Yeah, sorry…" Shin and Hikaru kept walking until they saw some houses. Some of them were traditional, while others got a more western design. The area was divided into sections between each other; almost all of them were old. They walked uphill until they stopped in a more looking-cleaned house; it was western design.

Hikaru pulled out a key from her purse while Shin was observing the suburbs around them. He thought that he didn't look bad at all. Maybe with some optimism in his mind can help him to bring a new view of his new home. He couldn't wait to start school. After Hikaru opened the door, they walked inside the house while leaving the shoes at the entrance. The inside looked clean and friendly, with an LSD TV in the living room, a bright, well-organized kitchen, a table with four chairs, and large coaches around the TV.

"Mhh, dad is not at home yet. I guess I will cook for dinner again." Hikaru was looking at the fridge while thinking about what dinner she should cook tonight.

"You don't have to cook today, Hikaru. Let me make dinner this time." Shin interjected.

"Do you know how to cook?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow by hearing Shin's proposal.

"I do. I always make dinner every day." Shin sounded a little enthusiast about making dinner at his new home.

"Ok. So what you have in mind for tonight?" Hikaru crossed her arms while listening to her brother's ideas for dinners.

"I can make some spaghetti with beef and cheese. Do we have all the ingredients?"

"We do, let me get them for you." Hikaru started to search in the cabinets to get the ingredients. Shin started to boil water for the pasta. "You don't need it to do it by yourself. Get some rest at least because your trip was pretty long."

"No thanks, I want to help you at least." His expression became serious.

"Alright, how about we do it together?"

"Deal"

The twins started to cook dinner together. The synchronization between them like checking the pasta, cutting meat, cheese, and mixed it with the tomato sauce was in top-notch like they did it before. They were so focused that they didn't notice the dinner was almost made by itself in a short time. After finally making the dinner with some bread and condiments to complement it, they looked at each other with satisfaction.

"Looks like is almost ready, but it is too early." Shin looked at the clock in the living room; he wasn't sure what to do now.

"Mhh, I wonder if my show is already starting." Hikaru grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. The local news is the first thing to show up.

"_It looks like the weaves are going to increase this year. The best suggestion to the citizens is not to get near the bay or beach at night. Strong wind storms are expecting to appear next week. That being said, there's no risk is going outside now and…"_ And the reporter continued to explain more about the island's weather.

"Nothing important, I guess. I should unpack my stuff." Shin stood up and grabbed his stuff.

"Let me show you your room." Hikaru stood up too, and Shin followed her upstairs to the last room on the bottom of the hallway. Once inside the room, Shin looked around to see how to accommodate everything. "Here it is, not the most luxurious room we can give you but is cozy enough."

"Thanks, I'm sure that is good. I will clean around here first before using the futon."

"Alright, I'll be downstairs to accommodate the table for dinner." She walked away from the room while Shin became busy in his bedroom.

The first day at Kaishi was better than Shin could expect it. He opened his luggage and backpack to put his clothes inside the closet. A book shelve was already in the room but no books to read, Shin was thinking about getting some when they have the chance to visit the city. He moved some stuff around, underneath the futon was a weird bracelet with a unique engraving, it had one jewel which was an agate but five empty spaces where more ornaments should be in the bracelet. Shin thought it looked cool; maybe it was something traditional from the island.

As Hikaru was accommodating everything for dinner, someone knocked at the door. Hikaru went to attend who could be.

"Little girl, we are at home!" Two men with office suits came inside the house. One was in his late 40's while the second on in his earlier middle 40's. Both looked tired but happy.

"Welcome home, dad, nice to see you again, Sato-san!" Hikaru greeted both men while they took off their jackets and sat on the couch.

"Hey, Hika-chan, how was your day?" The other man asked the teenage girl in a friendlier manner.

"It was good; we were able to cook dinner without trouble."

"We? Someone else was with you earlier?" The cheerful man looked confused about what she said.

"Dad, did you forgot to tell him?"

"Sorry, with the piles of work made me forget to give him the news." The gruff-looking man was apologetic about it.

"News? Can you explain to me what are you talking about?"

"Hikaru, could you ask him to come here, please?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." After a couple of minutes, Hikaru walked downstairs with Shin following her.

"Hello, I'm Shin Maeda. Nice to meet you…" Shin vowed in respect while greeted by both men.

"Shin?... Oh, I remember you now, long time, huh?" The man was surprised by the teenager's unexpected visit.

"Do you already know him, Sato-san?"

"Of course I do, but I only knew him as a baby."

"Shin, this man is yours and Hikaru's godfather." Their dad explained

"And I'm your father's business partner. I'm Sato Obu, nice to see you again, Shin." The man was happy to see a familiar face.

"Business partner?" Shin was curious because he didn't what kind of job his father had.

"We are working in a sales company, nothing important." The father said in a calm tone.

"We _are_ the bosses of the company; you don't have to be so modest with your son, Tsuba." Sato sounded proud of himself.

"I don't like to brag about it, and you know that."

"Yeah…but what's the fun in not bragging?" Regardless of what Sato said, it didn't bother Tsuba about showing their successful career in front of Tsuba's children. The night became as lively as they started to dine spaghetti, which the twins cooked with passion. Everyone began to talk about the past things they were doing when they were young. Shin was so happy of how things looked good for him with his new family, or at least for a while.

* * *

** Midnight**

Meanwhile, in the woods from the island, the wildlife was quiet as always. Birds and mammals were already sleeping, only the noises from there are the crickets. Two creatures were talking to each other under the moonlight.

"Did you found all the symbols?" One of the creatures spoke.

"No, I'm still struggling to find some without being able to shapeshift properly." The second creature, with a high pitch tone, said in a sad mood.

"You're still too young for that. Maybe in a couple of years of training, and just maybe, you will be able to transform in maggot." It said in a more devilish tone.

"Pretty funny, I will show you one day what I can do that without raising suspicions to humans."

"Yeah, yeah, back to the topic of the symbols, we need to retrieve them if we want to preserve our village."

"I'm not so sure to be able to accomplish this task without enough experience."

"Say that to the Elders. I'm sure they will understand that."

"This island, something is going wrong after so many years. How can we prevent this catastrophe?"

"I have no idea either; our only option is to follow their orders if we want to survive."

"Do you think the legends are true? I thought those were only bedtime stories."

"Those are more real than you could ever imagine, we already went to 'that' place before. You know the rest."

"I guess so; I will come to the city to find more symbols."

"Try using your other form to attract less attention."

After discussing for a few minutes, those two creatures moved further into the forest. They disappeared into the dark woods.

* * *

**04/06, Friday, Early Morning**

It's been already two days after Shin arrived at Kaishi. Nothing happened yesterday as he stayed at home to keep cleaning and accommodate his room. He studied more about the island, so he doesn't feel behind about its history and favorite spots of interest; he almost looked like a tourist. Hikaru woke up earlier and already dressed to go out.

"Hey, I'm going to the city for some school supplies, are you going with me?" Hikaru asked Shin while knocking at his room door.

"I will go with you, just give me a moment to get ready." Shin looked at the clock; he never thought that his sister was an early-bird person.

Shin grabbed his clothes and the same camo jacket. He caught the bracelet on his right wrist and took his wallet, current funds: 10,233 yen. He was short in money after traveling to that island. Shin was thinking of finding some part-time jobs after entering school when more jobs are available.

"I'm ready; let's go." Shin walked out of the front door while Hikaru was waiting outside.

"Ok, we will have to walk a little for the bus stop. Going from here to the city is pretty far, so it is our only method of transportation."

"Okay, now you mention distance, is our school far too?" Shin was looking at his phone to see on the island's map.

"Not really, we can just walk to the school as it is close to residential areas, hidden at the forest."  
"Now that you mention it, I couldn't find the school on my phone."

"Yeah it is weird, maybe it wasn't updated or something, this island is pretty old despite how modern is."

"Well, if you say it is not that far, then I don't have to worry about getting lost on my way to there."

The twins had to take the bus from the residence zone to Hamachi City for 30 minutes. The city was packed with people from different nationalities and cultures because of how much the area has to offer for both residents and tourists. Shin couldn't believe about the change of environment, not even his previous home had that kind of sudden change.

"This place is amazing. It's almost like Tokyo!" Shin sounded so excited about the city.

"You had been to Tokyo before? You know that I never left this island before."

"Not even for school trips?" Shin was surprised by his sister never experience any other place.

"No, usually we go to a hotel from this island and get some fun activities."

"Huh, that is weird. Well, I guess not always possible to leave here without taking a boat. And about Tokyo, I went there just once."

"I see…" Hikaru was lost in thought about experiencing other places that she would like to go to.

They went to separate ways around the city, leaving Shin wandering on the street and looking at different stores, the bookstore was the one that caught his attention. Once inside, Shin looked at the plethora of books the store had to offer. He wasn't sure which books he should buy them, but maybe something that would help him to learn more about the island. Shin ended up buying books about Folklore Tales and Kaishi Anthologies. His current funds changed to 3,433 yen. Not much left for other stuff to buy. After leaving the store, he decided to read a little about Folklore Tales, nothing special but mythological creatures and spirits that are reasonably common on the island. Pretty impressive, as is said, the forest has small shrines and sanctuaries for the spirits living on this island.

After done looking at the book, Shin started to check the next one. When he opened it, something fell from it. It was a necklace. That thing was inside the book for some reason and got an emblem: it was a hexagon with a triangle and a cross inside. Shin never saw something before, maybe from some religious symbol.

Before picking up from the floor, the bushes started to get agitated.

"Woah!" Shin jumped back when a tanuki came out of the bushes running to the street. "What the…a tanuki? I thought there wasn't any in this area….Wait a sec." The teenager started to look around and to see that the animal took the necklace away. "Hey! Come back here!" He chased the tanuki through the street.

Shin chased it for a couple of minutes until he ended up in the forest area; he wasn't happy about dealing with this kind of situation. It was hard for him because the tanuki was in its natural habitat. It would take him hours to find it if it wasn't for someone's voice.

"Someone get me out of here!" The voice came not too far where Shin was.

"Who could it be?" After hearing it, Shin decided to follow the voice and see who was asking for help. More bushes were in his way, no much vision or space to move around. When he finally reached the voice, there was no one approximately.

"Huh, this is weird. I swear I heard someone asking for help." His eyes were looking at different directions to see if there was someone around, but nothing. One of the bushes started to shake. He was curious if it wasn't another animal catching him off-guard again. He slowly moved towards the bushes and began to push aside the branches to see what was behind them. Of what he saw, it was something unexpected for him.

"What the…?"

"You gotta be kidding me." An anthropomorphic tanuki spoke in annoyance while Shin saw it being trapped inside a cage.


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you?" Shin asked the odd creature. It tried to shake the cage off, but it couldn't escape.

"What do you think I am?" It replied annoyingly. "Hey, could you open this cage for me? I can't reach the lock."

"Wait a moment." Shin started to notice something on the creature's pawn. Something familiar hanging on it. It was the collar he got from his book. "You are the tanuki thief from moments ago!"

"Impressive, you figure it out. Are you expecting a reward or something?" Shin frowned at the creature. It realized that he wasn't in a good position to open its mouth. "Sorry, but could you open this for me?

"Sure, if you give it to me back what you stole." Shin said while crossing his warms.

"What!? No way! I can't give you that!" The tanuki said while hiding the collar.

"Why not?"

"I…I can't tell you that…"

"Oh? So you expect me to let you go without returning something is mine?" Shin said while raising an eyebrow.

"This isn't yours!"

"Then, from whom?"

"No one! That thing is dangerous and…! Oh shoot, I said too much." The tanuki said while covering its mouth. Shin finally caught him where he wanted it.

"Aha! So that is why you stole it. Why it is dangerous then?"

"I…uh…well…" The strange creature struggled with its words.

"I will let you go if you tell me why."

"Really?"

"Depending on what you tell me, I would like that collar back."

"Hah! Yeah, as if!" The tanuki said while crossing its arms.

"Oh, what is that I'm looking at...? That seems interesting." Shin started to play dumb by looking at the woods and walking away from the cage. That made the tanuki desperate to get out of the trap.

"Alright, alright, I will do what you say, but you have to promise me something before I let you keep that."

"Deal." Shin started to release the cage's lock. Slowly opening above while the tanuki jumped out of it while stretching its tiny limbs. "Now, as you promised."

"Right, to put it simply. This collar is what I called a 'Symbol,' which can cause horrible things to anyone who is wearing it."

"Symbol, huh?" Shin said while examining the collar in front of the light. "What kind of terrible things it can cause?"

"A lot of things." The tanuki was being vague with its response, something that Shin wasn't convinced at all.

"Uh-hu… so that's it? Because if I want to keep it, at least you could tell me what it does."

"The most I can tell you is do not wear it in front of a mirror or any reflective surface." The tanuki warned the teenager. He was curious about why, but at least he got enough information. "So promise me that you won't try it."

"Don't worry. I won't." Shin said it while putting the Symbol inside his back pocket.

"Also, don't tell anyone you saw me. If you value your life." It said while trying to sound menacing, and the teenager wasn't amused by it. From one moment to another, the tanuki grabbed a leaf while putting it over the creature's head. A small cloud of smoke engulfing, transforming into a normal tanuki and running away from the area.

Shin started to wonder if that was a dream, or it happened. He couldn't believe that his second day on the island and he already encountered weird stuff. He thought is as a bizarre day.

"Heeeey!" Shin heard someone's voice coming through the woods. Between the bushes, Hikaru was pushing them away as he saw Shin standing in front of the cage. "There you are, where were you been?" She asked her twin.

"I…" Shin tried to come up with an excuse since he couldn't explain what happened between him and the weird tanuki. "I saw an animal trapped on this cage, so I helped it out."

"Yeah, I can understand that. I still don't understand why people would that to wildlife." The girl said with the discontent about treatment on nature. "But, anyway, I was looking for you because you still need to get your school uniform."

"Okay." The twins walked back to the city, leaving the place while the tanuki was over the tree, observing them without blowing its cover.

"Tch. I still need to get it back" It muttered between the branches.

* * *

** Evening**

After spending a whole day from buying school supplies and a new set of uniforms for Shin. The twins arrived home with a lot of bags on both hands. Notebooks, pencils, pens, sticky notes, and backpacks were enough for them to survive in their first month of school. Their father didn't return home yet, so they decided to watch TV as for how tired they were. Without subways, using buses or ferries were their only way as they couldn't get something faster than a bike.

"…_And that concludes the story about the church's fundraising. In other news, there's been an increase in the water's level, which some of the fishermen became cautious about. There's no confirmation if there's an incoming storm or other kinds of environmental hazards for the upcoming week. We highly recommend all residents close to bays and beaches to not get near them until further information."_ The anchorman said on the local news. Hikaru looked worried about after hearing that.

"I hope this is just a temporary thing." She began biting her lip, a common tic of hers.

"I could say the same." Shin scratched behind his left ear. While changing channels, the twins heard someone going through the main door.

"I'm home." They heard their dad's voice opening the door while taking off his shoes. He walked to the living room with a box. "Hey, I brought pizza since I didn't want you to make dinner tonight."

"You came earlier than usual." Hikaru said with surprised.

"I thought of finishing all the paperwork at home instead of my office. So, how was the shopping day in the city?"

"It was good, never thought to look like Kyoto." Shin asked.

"Yeah, we have an interesting view when you combine both modern and traditional buildings. You just scratched the surface as there's a lot more here." Their father, Tsuba, said with a small smile while serving pizza slice for everyone. "Which I would like to ask you. How excited are you to go for a picnic on Sunday?" The twin looked with surprise about his idea. Shin reacted positively, but Hikaru not so much.

"Aren't you going to be busy on that day?" She asked with skepticism on her voice.

"It is fine. Remember that Sato can handle things without me at the office." Tsuba took a bit of his slice of pizza while Hikaru began looking at her phone for Island's map. She couldn't be sure if they could see most of the places for that day. So far, Shin thought about going to the park that was nearby the house. He hoped that there wouldn't be any weirder creatures on his way soon.

* * *

**04/08, Sunday, Afternoon.**

It was a cloudy day at Suguru Park. People were enjoying the day with children eating ice cream, couples going for a stroll, and seniors sitting on benches while looking at the crowd. It seemed peaceful enough for anyone being to lay on the grass and watching clouds.

Shin and the Matsus went there as they walked from his home, it took him thirty minutes, but it was nothing but a straight line. They saw a lot of people passing by, including some oddities such as a teenager wearing a shirt with the peace-symbol while carrying a banner.

"Please, would you like to help our island's ecosystem? Some of the animals are in trouble due to pollution. Please, could you try to recycle trash and help wildlife!?" She was telling the people who were passing, but no one minded her.

The family kept walking while looking for the right spot for a picnic. Shin was curious about that girl asking for support. Then again, most people should be conscious of their environment at some point.

"This looks good." Tsuba said while pointing the perfect spot to set up the picnic. He started to extend a blanket on the ground while Hikaru put their bentos above the sheet. Shin was carrying the drinks on a cooler. "What did you make, Hika-chan?"

"Burger Patties with soy and mixed salad."

"I can smell it and it is quite tasty." Shin complimented his sister's cooking.

"Alright, _Itadakimasu!_" Tsuba was the first to thank the food.

"_Itadakimasu!_" The twin said as well. The began eating the patties with some special sauce on top. The food tasted better since they were outdoors.

"Can you give me another bottle of water?" Hikaru asked Shin.

"Sure thing." He opened the cooler and gave one bottle to his sister.

"So, how's your life on the island?" Tsuba asked the teenage boy.

"Here is great. It looks like a nice place to live." He said while eating his salad. Hikaru thought the same. She always loved the island.

"Glad to hear that." Tsuba said with a small smile. As they were eating, they heard a person with a small cart selling ice cream. "Hey, Hika-chan. Would you be a dear and buy ice cream for everyone?"

"Okay." She replied while Tsuba pulled a wallet to give her a bill of 1,000 yen to buy for everyone. She stood up and went towards the ice-cream seller.

With Shin and his father alone for the moment, he began looking at the teenagers with serious eyes. "So, did you tell her?" Tsuba asked.

"No…" He said while cutting his smile.

"I know that wasn't easy, especially after what you told me on the phone last week. Hikaru didn't ask about her, did she?" Shin only replied by shaking his head. Tsuba sighed while taking a sip of his bottle of water. "Alright, I think it is for the best at the moment. If she ever does, tell me, and I will explain her to you."

Shin nodded with a serious expression that was unusual yet not too strange for himself.

"Don't give me that look. We are finally together as a family. Tomorrow you start school, right? I'm sure you are going to like to meet new people. Did you have friends back in Kyoto?"

"I didn't, and I was mostly trying to care for myself at home than going out." Shin replied with a somber tone.

"Well, you don't have to worry about it. Hikaru can introduce you to some of her classmates. Always try to put a smile on any situation, alright?" His father's words were enough to give some encouragement to the teenager. Shin tried to put his best face. He didn't want his sister to look at him in such a state.

"I'm back." Hikaru returned with three cups of ice cream on both hands. "Did you talk about something in my absence?"

"Not much, just stuff about tomorrow's school. Which flavors did you get?" Shin asked.

"Strawberry, pistachio, vanilla."

"I would like the one with pistachio, that one is my favorite."

"You too? I bought vanilla because I didn't know which one you would like."

"It looks like we have to solve this problem." Hikaru said with a malicious smile. "Rock-paper-scissors."

"Alright." Shin had no objections to resort it like adults in that one. The twins got into position for the first round while their father observed them while eating his strawberry-flavored ice cream. "1…2…3!" At the same time, Shin drew paper while Hikaru got scissors.

"Hah, score for me." She said victoriously. The second round made Shin thinking carefully on his next move, always a tough choice. "1…2…3!" She did the countdown.

Shin was able to pull that off with paper again, Hikaru lost since she drew a rock. "Huh, that was close." He said due not expecting on repeating paper would work out. The twins were getting into position. It was a matter who gets it right in this round. "1…2…3!" He counted as both began making their choice at the same time.

"A draw." Hikaru said as she and Shin got scissors. "The next one shouldn't last." She tried to sound confident. They were ready for another round while the girl began counting. "1…2…3!"

The winner was already decided.

"I win." Shin said with a rock against Hikaru's scissors.

"Awww…oh well." She sighed while accepting defeat.

"You kids had to make it dramatic?" Tsuba said as he was done eating his ice cream cup.

"It had to be done." The teenage girl said as she began eating the vanilla cup. Shin felt a little sorry for taking the pistachio, but at least they know for the next time who gets ice cream for the other.

The family picnic was something splendid for Shin. He doesn't remember the last time he had a good time like those. With his new school, he couldn't think exactly what to expect or what kind of people he would meet. Hopefully, his new life in Kaishi will be very different from now one.


	3. Chapter 3

**04/09, Monday, Early Morning**

On the first day of school, Shin and Hikaru woke up early to get ready without worrying about time. Shin was in his room, displaying his uniforms for different seasons. For the moment, everyone's uniforms were black jackets and gray pants, and the ties were striped green and gray. Female students had skirts with the same design as the ties. White T-shirts and black shoes were optional as the uniform-code wasn't strict as the other schools in Japan. Shin decided to dress appropriately anyway.

He was accommodating his backpack with notebooks, pens, and pencils for the day. Between the stuff he had, he noticed the bracelet he found days ago. He thought if to wear it or not. Probably he would since he liked it. There was another thing he remembered, the collar or "Symbols" that the strange tanuki mentioned.

"What should I do with this?" Shin asked himself while looking at the collar closely. It was a thin chain with jewelry, something that girls would wear it for fashion nowadays. He couldn't use it, that was for sure. He couldn't give it to Hikaru or anyone else in that matter. Too dangerous, according to the weird creature.

There was a single solution, stashing it away from everyone. He looked at every inch of his room to see the right place to hide it. Unfortunately, the room didn't have good spots, Shin thought on using the book he bought alongside the Symbol. He opened the book to hide it.

With the book back to the bookshelf, he felt assured at the moment. He began wondering if he wasn't superstitious, but after dreaming about the weird place in blue and meeting the tanuki, he didn't want to take any chances.

"That should be good." He said as he saw everything in order, not a single thing out of its place.

"Breakfast's ready!" Shin heard Hikaru's voice outside his room. He took his backpack and left the room without worrying too much. Shin could smell the food coming out of the kitchen. He walked downstairs while looking at his sister in an apron with two plates of scrambled eggs with bacon. "There you go." She said while leaving both plates on the table.

"Thanks." Shin said while taking pouring orange juice on a glass. Hikaru grabbed two slices toasted of bread and gave one to her brother. She used a knife to spread some butter over the toast. _"Itadakimasu."_ Both clapped their hands while thanking for the food. As they began eating, Hikaru started to see his brother with a serious look.

"Is there something wrong?" He asked his sister.

"Nothing, but you looked somewhat excited for the first day of school." She commented while drinking her glass of orange juice.

"Is that so? I was getting ready as usual." Shin shrugged. He started noticing that their father wasn't on the table yet. "Where is dad?" He asked.

"He already left for work." She said with a grimace. "He usually eats boiled eggs to save himself some time."

"I guess that's expected from someone who is the owner of a big company."

"Yeah, which also means a lot of competition as they sell electronic parts around the country." Hikaru sighed while looking at her phone to see the hour. "Huh, let's finish our breakfast, or we are going to miss our bus."

"Okay." The twins were finishing their breakfast, not leaving a single piece of leftover before leaving the house. They grabbed their backpacks and locked the front door once outside. They began walking down the street until reaching the bus stop. So far as the route they had to do, they needed to get somewhere closer to the school.

What a way to start the first day of school.

* * *

Tengoku High School, one of the most exciting schools in the country as they encouraged not just education but also cultural such as arts, sports, traditions, and entertainment. One could say it was a place for a lot of types of students and teachers.

"Everyone! Move on a line without pushing each other!" One student with a band on his right arm and military haircut said with a loud tone to every student walking through the main gate. "Every student must present to the auditorium for the Entrance Ceremony in thirty minutes!" The lively student kept instructing everyone around. The students avoid him as if rock divided the water, leaving a gap of dry land.

"Geez, Otsuka-sempai woke up early this morning." A second-year male student murmured to another.

"I know, does he ever take a break?" The other student replied with a lazy tone.

"Probably he won't get one this year. I heard Akiyama-sempai was chosen as President of the Student Council."

"Owww, it is going to be quite heated then. Well, I guess Akiyama-sempai is at least more flexible than him." The students kept with the conversation while entering the building. Shin couldn't stop hearing all the gossip among the crowd.

The teenager followed his sister to where the auditorium was. The school grounds were huge as a stadium, almost hard to believe. Being surrounded by woods didn't hurt either since they had a lot of space for various events while being far from the city. One could say it was easy to get lost if you don't pay enough attention.

"This way." Hikaru started to guide her brother to where the school boards were. So far what happened, their father took Shin on Sunday after their family picnic to register at school. It was something that Tsuba almost forgot since it was his free day. As they reached the school boards, they began looking for their assigned classrooms. "Matsu…Matsu…" She was looking for her name with her finger on the paper. "Ah, there I am." Her class was on classroom 2B.

Shin was doing the same on searching his name, but as he was next to his sister, he noticed his name above hers. "Huh, we are in the same class." He said with surprise.

"That's curious, well at least you won't get lost with me guiding you through the whole year." Hikaru snorted.

"Don't worry. I will get used to the school's layout before you know it." Shin replied in the same manner.

"Come on, let's not miss the ceremony." Her brother nodded in response as they walked to the second floor where the auditorium was. It was pretty crowded, little room to breathe with people being too close to each other. As the twins were looking for seats, they saw two on the fourth row. They passed slowly, not to trip accidentally.

With students on their seats and teachers standing on stage, everyone remained silent while waiting for the principal to speak. He looked pretty old and chubby, long grey beard, and wearing traditional clothing. He looked like someone from the past two centuries.

The principal began giving his speech. His voice was dull enough that some students tried not to fall asleep.

"Ugh, Principal Sakata's speeches never changes." A female student in front of the twins murmured to her friend on her left.

"He probably lived long enough to memorize it without even reading it anymore." She replied.

"Well, we won't ever have to listen to him anymore after this year." The students stopped talking as they saw one of the teachers on stage, giving fierce eyes from a distance. So far, on Shin's expectations, he thought the speech was nice, but he couldn't argue about the monotone voice. With that kind of Principal, he couldn't imagine the teachers.

* * *

"Yeah, I heard about it." One of the students in class 2B was talking to another. "Apparently, there's a rumor about the father from a first-year student was released from jail."

"I can't imagine having that student next to me. What that guy did?" A girl asked.

"I heard he was arrested because he abused the student, and someone report it."

"Really? I heard from someone else that he was arrested because he was some spy from another corporation or something."

"Hah, that's something you only see on a show."

"Well, that's what he said, don't blame me."

"Whatever…" The students kept babbling about the rumor. Shin wasn't interested in hearing someone's personal life, no matter how bad it sounds.

As the time for the class was about to begin, everyone took their seats while waiting for the teacher to show up. Shin was sitting next to Hikaru. The students started to hear someone walking down the hallway. The footsteps were loud as if a demon was approaching.

Someone gently opened the door, a man in a black jacket, formal pants, and face of a thug presented himself with books on his hand. It was easy to deduce he was a teacher, but he got the least friendly aura that made some students gulped saliva.

"Alright, is everyone present?" He spoke with a deep, unnerving voice. "My name is Katsuo Fujin, and I'm your homeroom teacher. Probably most of you don't know about me, but I'm the new Literature Teacher in Tengoku. To make it clear for all of you, I will expect some degree of respect towards me. I will always insist on addressing me as 'Mr. Fujin,' 'Fujin-sensei,' 'Fujin-san,' or 'Sir.' Not any other way, understood?"

Everyone in the room nodded, not comments, not noises. They looked pretty tamed and afraid of him.

"Good." Mr. Fujin started to open a book while sitting on top of his desk. "Another thing, before I do the roll call, I will ask one of you to answer me a question." Before the teacher could continue speaking, Hikaru raised the right hand to ask permission to talk. "Yes?"

"Um… isn't lectures supposed to start until tomorrow?" She asked.

"Was it? Well then, you wouldn't mind breaking that norm for today, would you?" He replied in a sarcastic tone. Shin and Hikaru found it odd for a teacher of acting like that. He wasn't disrespectful, but it wasn't anything that anyone could imagine it. "The reason for asking you is because I want to determine what kind of student are you going to be this year. I hope you are up to my standards."

The air felt a little tense, and his soul was someone from a rebellious nature. It was hard for everyone in the classroom to determine what was on Mr. Fujin's mind. "Alright, let's start with something simple. I'm sure all of you heard of the French writer Victor Hugo, haven't you? Well, he was someone remarkable for his works. Of course, he was also someone pretty odd in his style. He wrote an 823-word long sentence in one of his books. Which book was it?" He asked his students, but no one dared to answer him.

"Too shy to talk, aren't you? Alright, I will choose one of you then." He started to point every student, trying to pick randomly. "Eeny, meeny, miny, you!" Mr. Fujin looked at a student with mild dark skin, curly hair, and dog tags.

"Huh?" He looked confused as he didn't pay attention.

"Do you know the answer?" The teacher asked with serious eyes.

"I…well, I'm sure Victor Hugo wrote it in one of his famous books." The student tried to drag the answer.

"Go on."

"That book must be… The Hunchback of Notre-Dame?" He answered nervously.

"Ah, you got it right."

"Did I?"

"No." Mr. Fujin wasn't amused. "While it is true that some of his works had longer sentences, but that wasn't the right one. I'll give you a hint; it is a pretty famous musical." He started picking someone else randomly. His finger ended up aiming at Shin. "You. Do you know the answer?"

"Was it… Les Misérables?" He replied with confidence.

"Oh, bravo." The teacher started to applaud repeatedly. "I guess someone is at least well-versed with his reading. Yes, Victor Hugo wrote that long sentence that probably was hard to memorize when people made the movie adaptation." Shin felt that his _Attention_ grew for answering right. "Now, if you don't want to fail in this class, I suggest you start reading more often. Don't worry. I'll give you the list of books you must read during the year."

It was a surprise that someone was able to survive the new teacher. Shin started to hear students' whispers from behind.

"Wow, he knew the answer."

"I never see him before, is he a transfer student." The voices were getting louder around the classroom, something that Mr. Fujin started to get annoyed.

"Alright, that's enough. I want everyone being quiet while I take roll call." The stern teacher began calling names. Hikaru couldn't think of anything about his brother gathering popularity on his first day. She found it somewhat unsettling.

* * *

** Afterschool.**

"That's all for today. I hope to see all of you tomorrow." Mr. Fujin said while leaving the classroom without anything else to add. The students were leaving the class.

"I'll be waiting for you in the courtyard." Hikaru said to her brother.

"Where are you going?" Shin asked.

"I need to see a friend before heading home."

"Okay, see you later." Shin said while his twin sister left the classroom. As Shin was taking his backpack before heading outside too, the student with curly hair approached him with a friendly attitude.

"Hey, dude!" He greeted with a smile. "You are the transfer student I heard around, right?"

"Yes, so?" Shin wasn't sure how to react to the student.

"I'm Yoshi Yokoyama nice to meet you." He extended his hand.

"Shin Maeda." The teenager started shaking hands with Yokoyama.

"Maeda, eh? I'm somewhat impressed you were able to endure the new teacher. Then again, new teachers are always a pain anyways." Yokoyama made a sarcastic laugh. "So, where are you from?"

"Kyoto." Shin replied bluntly.

"There? That's a little far from here."

"I think it is fine by me. I'm starting to like the island anyways." Shin's comments filled Yokoyama's eye with joy.

"True that this place rocks since there's everything a teenager could ask without going far." As the guy with curly hair was talking, he started to look some girls passing on the hallway. "Well, I will catch you later. It was nice to meet you, Maeda."

"Likewise." The friendly student left the classroom to chase after the girls. Shin wasn't sure what just happened, but at least he became friends with someone already. The teenager picked up his stuff and went to look for his sister at the school's gate.

Despite the large building, the classroom wasn't too far from the stairs, leading to the school's main entrance. He went to the shoe lockers first before leaving. The first day of school wasn't so bad. Except for having Mr. Fujin as a homeroom teacher, Shin thought that at least it won't be much a problem this year.

Just as expected, Hikaru was already waiting for her brother. "Sorry to make you wait, I was talking with another student." Shin said.

"It is fine. I was done talking with my friend anyways. Ready to go?"

"Sure." They began walking towards the nearest bus stop to return home. They saw some clouds approaching, probably rain late at night.

* * *

** Evening.**

"Dammit, where is that thing?" The tanuki was inspecting on the closet inside Shin's bedroom. So far, the creature tried to look on every inch for the Symbol. The more it was looking around the room, the more time was being wasted before things could go bad.

"_I'll prepare for dinner."_

"_Alright, let me leave my backpack at my room first before helping you."_

"Oh, crap." The creature said with a terrifying look while hearing footsteps approaching the room. It began panicking while trying to leave everything orderly to avoid being suspicious. The closet on its place and shelves being shut, the only thing left was the tanuki itself to hide.

"What I do? What do I do? What I do…? Okay, I got it." The creature put its paws together while concentrating. "Transform!" A small cloud surrounded it, transforming into a folded sleeping bag.

Shin opened the room to leave his backpack. For a brief moment, the teenager felt something odd about the room. He couldn't guess what was, but he shrugged since there was nothing out of place. He left the room, giving the tanuki another chance to search and ditch the house.

"He probably hid it in his backpack, what dumbass." It said mischievously while transforming back to its natural form. Inspecting quickly what was inside the backpack's content, there was nothing but notebooks. "Come on, where is it?"

As it tried to look for the side pockets, he started to notice something odd. "What the…OUCH!" It screamed as something squished its paw with a painful mousetrap.

"I knew you wouldn't give up." Shin said while entering the room. For how long he was waiting behind the door? He looked as if he already anticipated this kind of situation. The teenager approached the tanuki while grabbing it from the tail, hanging upside down.

"Owww! My tail! This is animal abuse. You know that?"

"I know that. I don't like to act like this either, but you know very well that you were invading someone's privacy."

"You left me with no choice. I need to take it back!" The tanuki tried to scratch Shin's face, but it wasn't that useful as the mousetrap was still attached to the creature.

"Oh, you mean this?" Shin grabbed the book and opened it, showing the Symbol being inside.

"You have to be kidding me. I didn't expect you to put it back there."

"I guess you are not that good at reading humans, huh? Now tell me, why is so important about this thing?"

"I told you, I can't." Things went pretty tense as Shin wasn't convinced due to the tanuki's stubbornness.

"Okay, if that's what you want." Shin checked the hallway if case Hikaru wasn't on the second floor. The teenager went to the bathroom while carrying both the creature and the Symbol on each hand. He opened the door and turned the light. He tried to not show the collar in front of the mirror as instructed.

"W-What are you doing?" The tanuki asked, almost stuttering as Shin didn't say a word. He held the Symbol while putting above the toilet.

"Now, this thing will go down there unless you tell me the full story."

"Please, don't do that! I-I need it badly!"

"For what exactly!?"

"I-I…" Before the tanuki could say another word, everyone started to hear thunders outside. Loud as if a beast roared while flying in the sky. The storm caused a blackout around the area, making everything pitch black. "This can't be good." The creature commented.

"Shin! Where are you!?" They heard Hikaru being terrified. She used her phone's flashlight to not trip on the stairs. "Is everything alright!?"

"I'm in the bathroom!" He replied to her.

"Are you almost done!? I don't like to be alone in darkness!"

"In a moment!" It was a tight situation as he could let himself be seen with a tanuki in hand.

"Do you have any bright idea?" It whispered sarcastically.

"Hey, you are the one who asked for it." Shin murmured. "Let me wash my hands!" He told Hikaru with reassurance.

"Okay, I'll get it in then."

"Wait...!" It was already too late. Shin didn't lock up the door, and Hikaru was getting in. As she opened the door, with her light, she illuminated the bathroom. Time started to slow down as she began seeing her brother with an animal on one hand and collar on the other.

"Ummmm." Hikaru's mind was blank, trying to process what was going on.

"I can explain it." He said nervously.

"Unless you say that tanuki came out of nowhere, then I will think that you just lost your mind."

"Yeah, I knew she wouldn't understand it… Whoops." The tanuki spoke without thinking due to the moment.

"What the… a talking tanuki!?" She was getting frighten the weirder the situation was becoming.

"Just let me explain it!" As Shin tried to walk towards his sister, he stood up in front of the mirror with the Symbol still on hand.

"You idiot!" The tanuki yelled at the teenager. The mirror started to get dirty as if ashes were covering it. The Symbol was glowing like a glowstick in front of everyone.

"What is happening!?" Hikaru was confused about the situation. The image on the mirror returned to normal, but everything went with negative colors. The reflections of both twins and the tanuki looked at them with red eyes. They started to change into black goo, becoming into two large hands that came out of the mirror and dragged them inside.

They tried to fight back, but the giant arms were way too strong for them. Slowly, their appearances were becoming glass while getting suck in. The light was disappearing to the point that Hikaru dropped her phone, leaving it behind. Shin dropped the Symbol as well as he was entering the mirror.

The electricity returned to the neighborhood. The bathroom's light returned, but it became empty. Not a single soul was around. The twins and the weird creature disappeared without any explanations.


	4. Chapter 4

**I hope you like this chapter because things are going to be crazy.**

* * *

"Owww, my head." Shin said as he was regaining consciousness. "Huh? Am I still in my house?" He noticed his surroundings as it looked decayed and burnt. "Hikaru! Where are you!?" He tried to call for his sister, but there was nothing but silence. "Seriously, what is going on?" Shin had too many questions, but none couldn't answer at the moment.

He saw the mirror behind him, assuming that is where he got transported. He touched it, but he couldn't get through. It was an ordinary mirror, and even the reflection wasn't out of the ordinary. Shin was confused about how that worked.

"I must find Hikaru and that tanuki before looking for a way out." He said to himself while walking down the hallway. Aside from the severe conditions on the house, nothing on the second floor was any different. The first floor, however, was completely gone.

The living room and kitchen were torn apart as if an earthquake broke the house in half. Not only exposing the outside but giving the worst impression for the teenager. "What in the world…?" It was a living nightmare.

Two suns were on the horizon on an exact point that was dawn or sunset. The sea and sky were splitting the suns, but the most bizarre thing was a giant tree appearing away from him, almost to the island's center.

"Wait, what time is here?" The teenager tried to check his phone, put it off. It didn't want to work as if it out of battery despite still having half of the energy. Things started to look bad for him with no clue about the place.

"Help! Anyone!?" Shin was able to hear Hikaru's voice.

"Hey! Where are you!?" He tried to reply while shouting.

"Shin!? Is that really you!?"

"Yes!"

"Can you help me!? I'm stuck under some trees!"

"On my way!" He followed his sister's voice. Shin jumped over some ruined furniture and fences on his way. As the whole thing was falling apart, he tried to carefully reach Hikaru as neither had an idea about the weird world.

"I'm right here!" She called him while being trapped under trucks. She wasn't hurt, but it was impossible to get her out of there. "Help me, please."

"One moment." Shin tried to lift the trunk, but as expected, it was way too heavy for him.

"Can't you find something else?" She asked in an annoyed tone.

"I can't. There's not much stuff that could be used as support."

"Where's everyone!? Why everything is so dark!?" Not too far from where the twins were, they heard another voice coming from a trashcan. They already guessed who it was. The teenager approached it and opened the container. "Great, this just great." It couldn't stop complaining.

"Yeah, I'm not happy either." Shin said while pulling the tanuki out of trash. "Hey, now that I helped you out of there, would you transform into something to help my sister?"

"What makes you think that I would help you? And also, the fact that I could transform at all?" The creature said into a condescending tone.

"Because I saw you trying to hide as one of my sleeping bags."

"W-What!? How…!?" The tanuki asked in shock.

"Your ears and tails were sticking like a sore thumb." Shin replied with a blunt tone. "You better change into a saw or something to help my sister." He tried to ask once again for the help, but the tanuki ignored him as it was on its knees.

"Oooooooh nooooo…I'm a disgrace for my tribe…" The creature repeatedly muttered, full shame of itself.

"Um…hello? Are you alright?" Shin tried to reason with the creature, but it was still stiffing about its skills. "Well…I guess I will try to get help from something else."

"H-Hey wait a minute!" The tanuki stopped the teenager from going away.

"You say that you need help with your sister, right?"

"That's what I been trying, but you didn't respond."

"You want it so badly? I will show you that my skills aren't one from an amateur!" It ran towards Shin's sister with a fierce look.

"What got into it?" The teenager asked while scratching his head out of confusion. He followed it to see how everything was going.

"Let's see how I do this…" The tanuki reflected in something that might help Hikaru out of the trees. It was complicated as if something chopped any of the trunks, they would fall and crush her. "Mhhhh…Aha! I got it!" The creature finally got the idea without risking too much. "Traaaaansform!" It began putting both paws together while a cloud surrounding it.

It became an uninflated balloon that crawled through the ground like a snake. As it was right into position, it started to inflate itself gradually. The ears and tail were pretty noticeable the bigger was getting.

A single push was enough to send some of the trucks to fly, making it safe for Hikaru to stand up. The creature transformed back to its cartoony form.

"Thank you for your help." Hikaru said to the tanuki.

"Sure, no problem." It tried to stretch its limbs. It was a surprise that the girl is no longer surprised by the talking tanuki. "Okay, now back to business." It started looking at Shin. "Would you like to give me back the Symbol so we can return to the real world?"

"Yeah…about that." Shin said while scratching the back of his head.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you lost it." The tanuki said with a scared laugh. "Please, please, please tell me you REALLY didn't."

"Well…" Shin's voice brought fear to the creature. "I… dropped it at the bathroom when we got dragged into here." Both the tanuki and Hikaru reacted with surprise, although the girl was more confused than anything.

"Oh nononononononono…" The creature started to panic a lot about the situation they were in. "This can't be good, not good, not good…"

"Okay, would you relax for a moment? I'm sure there's another way out of here." The teenage boy tried to reassure the tanuki, only for it to pay attention to him with desperate eyes.

"A way out? Are you joking? There's not a way out without a Symbol!?" It yelled. "All this could be avoided if you gave me that from the beginning!"

"Hey, I tried to hide it away from everyone."

"Surely it worked…"

"Would you please calm down both of you!?" Hikaru was in the middle of them, trying to stop with the bickering. "Could you tell me your name, if it is such a problem for you?" The girl asked the creature in a gentle tone while kneeling.

"Why would you care for my name?" It replied in a defensive tone.

"Since we are trapped here, at least we could work together until we find a way out of here." Hikaru tried her best to at least get along with the creature since it didn't want to get along with Shin.

"Mhhh…" The tanuki was doubting for a moment, but it no longer acted hostile towards her. "Alright, my name is Amatsuki."

"Amatsuki, huh? That sounds like a nice name."

"Well, what can I say? I can't complain about it."

"Tell me, are you male or a female." She kept asking the tanuki while getting some trust.

"I'm a female. Yeah, I know I don't appear like one but trust me, males of my tribe don't like to wear pants." Too much information, as the twins started to think about the creature.

"In any case, I think we should start asking about this place." Shin looked at Amatsuki with serious eyes.

"You mean here? This place is dangerous."

"But what exactly is?" Hikaru asked.

"This is the **Sitra Achra**, the worst place you could ever step inside the mirrors." The tanuki informed the twins about the weird place. They looked at their surroundings and the sky.

"And how this place was created?"

"How should I know? It always existed since my ancestors stepped here." Amatsuki jumped over some of the trunks while inspecting on a higher place. She looked nervous as if she tried to anticipate something. "There's one thing for sure that I know, but it's not safe for anyone."

"So, how exactly are we going to find an exit?" Shin asked.

"Okay, since you lost the Symbol, I might know another solution."

"See? There was nothing to panic about if you knew something." Hikaru said with reassurance, but the creature wasn't much happy about it.

"You see that big tree on the distance?" She said while pointing out for the twins. "That's our ticket out of here, but we must traverse a lot from here to there."

"It looks pretty far." Shin commented.

"Actually, not much. We just have to walk a couple of blocks if we want to get there." Amatsuki went ahead of the twins. Both of them weren't sure if the idea. "Come on! We can't stay for much longer!" The tanuki yelled at them while still advancing. They started following her.

As they walked through the weird place, they noticed the houses, streets, buildings and other recognizable landmarks that were easy for Hikaru to notice. After seeing her house in ruins, she started wondering about the exact nature of the dimension.

"Hey, Amatsuki-chan." She asked. "Why is everything destroyed?"

"It is because this place projects people's minds and memories of the island." She began explaining without stopping. "If you see abandoned stores, monuments, or houses that don't appear in the real world, it is because people had a strong affinity to the place."

"B-But what about our house? It never was destroyed."

"Who says it never was? This island went through a lot of natural disasters that left humans homeless. Your house probably was one of many before getting renovated at some point in life." The tanuki's explanations made the twins shiver of how weird people's memories could shape the place.

"You know a lot about this place. Is this your first time?" Shin asked.

"Yes… and no." Amatsuki said with a grimace. "I was here just once, but never explored further."

"Why not?" Hikaru asked with curiosity.

"I don't remember. I just know that was years ago. I was really young back then."

"How old are you?"

"45."

"Oh wow, you are pretty old then."

"Old? Pffft… as if. I'm the youngest of my tribe. I didn't even reach adulthood."

"H-Hold on a second. 45 is considered young for tanukis?" Hikaru raised an eyebrow due to Amatsuki's response.

"Well, kind like an equivalent of being 15 in human years."

"That's bizarre…" The teenage boy said in disbelief. As to how the conversation went, they were able to get close to the ocean as they took a detour to reach the tree.

"Are you sure are we going in the right direction? There's no more land here." Hikaru pointed out the way that seemed different from expected.

"Nah-hu, we are on the right step. We need to find a boat of something since we can't get there on foot." Amatsuki said as she was stepping on the beach.

"Why a boat, though?" Shin asked.

"Probably you wouldn't believe it, but when I said the island was taking the form of the past, I wasn't joking." She stopped from a brief moment to show the twins what was ahead of them. It wasn't a pretty view.

"Whoa!" Both twins saw in surprise that the island was divided into smaller ones, almost away from each other. The tanuki grabbed a rock and threw it into the water, creating waves on it. The most curious thing was that they were looking at the sky, reacting the same way as the water.

"What the… is the sky the ocean too? Or are we floating on the sky?" Shin said confused due to the dimension's weird laws of reality.

"It is either. If we try to step in, we will fall into infinity." The tanuki said in concernment.

"So, boats can float into the air?"

"You could say something along those lines. Getting ourselves a boat is the only way we can move between islands without risking our lives." The creature said while focusing her eyes on something for them like a raft, boat, or even a ship. The last one felt unlikely for the group.

As they were looking at the beach, they found something that wasn't destroyed. A wooden canoe and two paddles. "This should work." Hikaru commented as she was examining if it didn't have holes.

"Well, time to move on." Amatsuki hopped into the canoe while the twins pushed it into the ocean. They jumped into the canoe carefully if they didn't want to fall for an accident. Shin took one of the paddles while Hikaru grabbed the other. They rowed while the tanuki guided them in the right direction.

"What crazy day…" Shin commented in disbelief. "I thought this would be a normal life on this island, not this."

"I can't believe either. I lived here for so long and never knew all this existed."

"I hope dad isn't worried because of our absence."

"Oh, I forgot!" Hikaru shouted in shock. "Dad will be back at home at any second!"

"Relax…" Amatsuki interjected. "Time is different from here. It moves rather slow than real life. When we returned, it would only lapse five minutes or something."

"I hope so." She said with some doubts in her mind.

They kept rowing the canoe between some channels. It felt oddly peaceful, at least for the twins. Amatsuki was feeling anxious a lot more often since she knew partially the kind of place they were at. It didn't cross Shin's mind until he realized something peculiar.

"Hey..." He asked to the tanuki. "Who lives in this place?"

"Something very terrible."

"But what exactly?" Hikaru asked until the canoe started to shake violently than usual. "What the…?"

"Oh no… Let's get to land quickly!" The tanuki was feeling frightened. The twins didn't object as they paddled the canoe quickly as they could, but they could feel as if something was chasing them underneath. "Oh crap, crap, crap..." Amatsuki was terrified.

"We are almost there!" Shin shouted as his arm started to feel tired. Close to land, whatever that was under the canoe began to emerge. It threw the twins and the tanuki into the air. They screamed as they were reaching the ground. They were safe, but the strange thing destroyed the canoe.

"What is that!?" Hikaru said while feeling scared.

"It's a Shadow!"

"A what!?"

"Creatures, monsters, demons, whatever you want to call them! They live on this side, and they don't like us to invade their home!" Amatsuki stood up and started running for her life. Shin helped Hikaru to stand up as well. He grabbed her hand and followed the tanuki into the woods. They couldn't see the Shadow's appearance since they ran before it could come out of the channel.

They were looking at the massive tree in front of them. It was evident that they were almost reaching the exit, but probably it wouldn't be easy since Shadows were chasing them.

"Amatsuki! Where are you!?" Hikaru yelled.

"On the tree!" They could hear the tanuki. The twins followed her voice by turning right. They ran among the woods, hoping of not getting lost or tripping.

"There you are! What's the holdup!?" Shin asked Amatsuki who was standing there instead of looking for the exit.

"It's, it's, it's…" She was stuttering in terror while pointing out so something ahead. "It's them…" She was horrified, could talk properly as they saw the black deformed figures with masks. The twins could hear the tanuki's teeth making sounds as she was feeling cold.

The Shadows began melting. They looked as they were made of pixels and goo as those were examining on the ground. Those things emerged violently while changing forms.

"_Hee-ho_!" Three Crypt-dwelling Pyromaniacs began surrounding the group. The Shadows had pumpkin heads, coats and were carrying lanterns. It was a bad sign for the group. "_Let's play-ho!_" One of the Shadows said with sadistic joy. From its lantern, the monster started to shoot fireballs at them. Shin pushed Hikaru out of the harm's way.

"Run!" Amatsuki tried to warn the twins, but another Shadow jumped in front of the tanuki. It was blocking their way to the tree. It began transforming into a Flying Fishman.

"_Me hungry! Eat fuzzy thing!_" It spoke while approaching them. The Fishman tried to bite Amatsuki, but she back stepped and hid behind Hikaru.

It was bad news. They couldn't do anything. Shin took a stick from the ground and stood up in front of the group.

"What are you doing!?" His sister asked in surprise.

"I will try to distract them while you run towards the tree!"

"Are you nuts!? You are going to get killed by them!" Amatsuki wasn't happy with the plan.

"Just run!" Shin said while pushing them away. He started swinging the stick at the Pyromaniacs, but they were flying out of his reach. The Fishman approached him from behind, kicking him on the back. The Pyromaniacs began shooting fireballs at his sister and the tanuki. "Stop!" He tried to go after them, using himself as a shield to stop the projectiles.

"Shin!"

"No!" Both of them yelled in terror after seeing Shin trying to sacrifice himself. But something unexpected happened to him.

"Huh?" They looked at one of the Pyromaniacs being frozen. How did that happen? "What is going on…? Agh!"

"What's wrong?" Hikaru asked her brother who was acting weird. He grabbed his head with both hands as if he had a headache.

"_Noble of you…"_ Shin began hearing a voice in his head. "_Those who are willing to give their lives to protect their beloved ones are admirable. It is impossible for you to let others being harmed by those monsters…"_

"W-What's going on!?" Amatsuki asked while looking at the teenager in pain.

"_I AM THO, AND THOU ART I… ALLOW ME TO LEND YOU MY POWER TO PROTECT AND RESTORE LIFE! CALL ME WITHIN YOUR HEART!"_ The voice stopped talking, no longer making Shin feel in pain. The teenager started to notice his right wrist.

"No way…" Amatsuki muttered while looking at Shin's bracelet glowing. He was determined to protect his sister and the tanuki from the Shadows. He extended his right arm while opening his palm.

"I'm no longer running away from this." He said with confidence, aiming his hand at the Pyromaniacs. "Protect us, **Adam**!" From the jewel of his bracelet, a light came out of there while showing a being made of glass. The glass began taking a solid form, revealing a humanoid covered with a long cloak. Its arms and legs had stitches. He had bolts on its neck, knuckles, and shoulders.

"_I am Adam, the first to dwell among the Earth, exiled from Paradise. I shall serve you from now on, master!"_ The being spoke with assurance at the teenager. The Shadow became wary of Adam's presence. They began attacking it, but Adam's hand was glowing blue. He countered the creature by throwing projectile made of ice, killing the Pyromaniacs with a single blow.

The Fishman tried to attack as well with the same skill at Shin. He got hit, but he wasn't affected by it. Adam started punching the Shadow in the face with all its strength. Every attack heavily damaged the Fishman.

"Let's end this!" Shin said to his powerful protector. Adam charged a punch that made the Shadow fly into smaller pieces. The Fishman shattered as if it was made of glass.

Much to Hikaru's and Amatsuki's surprises, they couldn't believe what they witnessed. They saw Adam standing behind Shin while being surrounded by blue crystal falling next to them.

* * *

** Adam: The Fool, lvl 2. Null/Bless, Resist/Ice, Weak/Fire & Curse**

**-Bufu**

**-Lunge**

**-Tarunda (New Skill)**

**Persona Background:**

**The first man created by God in the book of Genesis. He was tasked to protect The Garden of Eve until he disobeyed God's order from eating the Forbidden Fruit. He and his mate Eve were exiled from their home, bearing the shame upon them and their descendants.**


	5. Chapter 5

"This can't be…" Amatsuki said while looking at Shin's awakened power. Without any threatening Shadows around, Adam started to shatter like crystal while being absorbed back to Shin's bracelet. Everyone tried to grasp what happened moments ago.

"How did you do that?" Hikaru asked her brother.

"I-I have no idea. It just appeared out of nowhere." Shin said with astonishment. He examined the bracelet on his right wrist. The jewel in the center was glowing blue and white. It was weird for both wins. The tanuki, on the other hand, was shocked with amazement.

"It can't be!" She yelled from the top of her lungs.

"What's wrong?" Shin asked Amatsuki.

"This isn't possible!"

"Calm down. What's bothering you?" Hikaru tried to reason with the distressed creature.

"That's a Persona!" The tanuki yelled while pointing at the teenage boy.

"A what…?" Hikaru said in confusion.

"A Persona, an ancient power. I never thought to see it with my own eyes!"

"So, you already knew about it. Why so surprised about it then?" Shin asked the creature.

"Because that is something you could only find as bedtime stories for the cubs in my tribe! How a human is capable of awakening one!?" Her mouth was on fire as she tried to comprehend how it was even possible. The twins were feeling tired of hearing her complaining although Shin felt that his body was heavier than usual.

"Are you alright?" Hikaru asked her brother as he held his forehead as he was dizzy.

"I'm feeling lightheaded. I guess awakening a Persona must be exhausted." He said while trying to keep his composure. "We need to leave this place now."

"I agree. Let's go." The twins walked towards the tree. Hikaru held Shin from the shoulders as he couldn't walk straight. The tanuki kept babbling without noticing the twins were walking away from him.

"… and one more thing! With someone like yourself shouldn't… Hey! Don't leave me behind!" She reacted in time while chasing after them. The group started to get close to the tree in a short time. It was good that it didn't appear more Shadows while reaching their destination. One could assume that they became aware of Shin's new power, but that wouldn't last long.

After dealing so much on the way, they finally arrived at the massive tree. Much to their surprises, the entrance was in between roots that only led to one pathway. The place was creepy as the interior's size could be compared to a skyscraper.

"This is it." Amatsuki said while the twins looked at the hollow interior of the tree. They could waters drops echoing inside.

"So… how exactly are we going to return?" Hikaru asked while letting Shin sit on a rock.

"Easy, through there." The creature pointed out what appears as an old well.

"Are you serious? A well?"

"Well, excuuuuuse me, but we don't have many choices." Amatsuki replied sarcastically as she walked towards the well. The twins followed her to see how deep it was. It looked dark and old, but not too far as they could see their reflections on the water. "Well, now jump to there."

"O-Okay." Hikaru let Shin go first through the exit first before jumping too. The creature followed them as well. They finally returned to reality.

* * *

In the middle of the woods, the surrounding areas had as nothing but the crickets as the only noise on the night. It was peaceful, or at least for a short time. On the old well, some light came out of there that scared some of the critters away.

"Wooooaah!" A scream in unison came from the well. "Aaaaaaaaahhh…!" Unexpectedly, they were launched from the well as if a cannon shot them. They fell to the ground with nothing but wet clothes, dirt on the faces, and some headaches.

"Owwww…" Hikaru rubbed her back in pain.

"Nghhhh… Ack! How annoying!" Amatsuki yelled while spitting as she accidentally got dirt on her mouth.

"Mhhh… Huh? Well, we are finally back." Shin commented while looking around.

"But where exactly are we? We are not at home... that's for sure." Hikaru commented while standing up. As she saw some lights on the distance, the girl began noticing some familiar buildings close to where they were at. "Isn't that our school?" She said with surprise.

"It is… how far have we traveled to here from the house?"

"Why so surprised? The other side is just like the island, and even the locations were exactly where what they were supposed to be." The creature replied to Shin while shaking her head. "In any case, I think we should come back to your house and retrieve the Symbol before your father returns and notices the absence of both of you."

"Agreed, let's go." Shin started walking towards the closest bus stop on their way back home. Amatsuki transformed into a regular tanuki as she accompanied the twins. As they reached the spot, Shin looked at his wristwatch to see if it wasn't too late for any buses around.

While waiting, everyone tried to process their experience on the Sitra Achra. It was something that none of them would expect. Shin had mixed feelings about that place. He started to think about how horrible he saw there. From all things, he doesn't want to return there ever again.

It took them 20 minutes to arrive in their neighborhood. The pole lights were illuminating the corners, and the houses were quiet. It was hard to believe that they saw the area from a different perspective. They walked towards their home, and it appeared that their father didn't return yet despite already being late.

"I don't see his car. I guess we are good." Hikaru commented with relief.

"Come on! Let's hurry in and get that stupid Symbol!" The tanuki was getting impatient. They opened the door to see that they left everything intact before being dragged in the other side. Shin sat on the couch to take a breath while Hikaru and Amatsuki went to the restroom to retrieve the dangerous object.

The whole ordeal became something mentally exhausting for the teenager. Shin tried to close her eyes while relaxing on the couch. He was expecting as if everything was a dream, but it wasn't the case. The tennager pinched himself in the arm, not only painful but useless as well. He tried to stand up again to head to the kitchen. He opened the fridge to pour some milk on a glass.

He began to drink it while regaining some of his strength. His muscles began feeling numb, his head was spinning, and his vision started getting foggy. No matter whatever he did, his whole body felt abnormal. What happened? That was something Shin couldn't stop asking himself.

He decided to go back to his room and get some sleep. As he walked upstairs, he saw Hikaru looking at the open window at the end of the corridor. "Hey, Hikaru, it's everything alright?" He asked.

"Yes, it's fine." She replied while still looking outside.

"Where's that tanuki?"

"She left through the window." Shin walked towards Hikaru to see outside as well. Both tried to track Amatsuki, but she was nowhere to be found. It was pretty apparent that neither of the twins could see in the middle of the night.

"Umm… Shin, I…"

"Please, not now." He interrupted his twin with worn-out eyes. "Whatever you want to ask me, you should do it until morning. I'm just tired." He said while walking back to his room. Hikaru was left behind with a lot of confusion.

They never thought that the first day of class would involve being transported to another world, fighting monsters, and talking tanukis. Both of them tried their best to forget what happened. They didn't bother to get some dinner that night after everything. Hikaru went to the restroom to take a long shower before going to bed. Their father didn't come to the home that night, not much to her surprise.

Already in his futon, Shin fell asleep in no time. Within his mind, he felt as he was falling into a hole. The end of the tunnel was a blue light, serene music as if someone was playing the piano while an opera singer accompanied the melody. Right now, his mind was in another place.

* * *

"Mhhh… huh? What?" Shin slowly opened his eyes while hearing harmonic music on his surroundings. He woke up over a therapy bed while wearing a patient gown. Everything was blue with a calm feeling on the air. There was no doubt. Shin returned to the Velvet Room.

"Welcome back." Igor greeted the teenager in his usual creepy demeanor. "It is our pleasure to see you again since your latest visit."

"What is this place exactly?" Shin still tried to understand what was happening.

"The Velvet Room is a place that is shaped by our guests. As for the moment, you are sleeping in the real world. Don't worry, your visit isn't going to take too long." Victoria, Igor's assistant, started explaining in her usual formal tone.

"Why am I doing here?" Shin asked.

"We summoned you to congratulate on awakening your power." Igor said with delight.

"My power…? Are you talking about my Persona?"

"Yes. A Persona is a power within your heart." Victoria began opening her notebook, showing a small projection of Adam. "As you can see, by awakening your Persona, not only you formed a contract with us, but it also seems that your task has begun."

"Task? I still don't get it what are you talking about."

"Quite simply, while it is still unclear, you will face adversities that might test your determination and bonds within your stay. As you know, we are here to offer our services to heal the lost glory along your path."

"Heal the lost glory? What is that supposed to mean?" The teenager still couldn't follow anything about what those two residents were babbling about. "Look, I appreciate all this, but I feel this is no place for me. I want to return to my normal life. I don't want anything to do with all this Persona-whatever-thing." Shin's denial brought some surprise to Igor's and Victoria's faces. "I… I want to go return home."

"As you wish, but remember, you are bounded to an inescapable fate... A cycle where your choices are beyond your control. When the time comes, you will know what to do. Until then, farewell." Shin started to see everything blurry. He began to sleep again as he laid his head against the therapy bed. The teenager felt that his body was being lifted again back to the tunnel made of crystal.

With their guest gone, the residents were in disbelief about Shin's attitude. "My, my… how peculiar." Igor started to contemplate while tapping his fingers against the desk.

"What's so peculiar about him, Master?" Victoria asked.

"I didn't have such a guest like him in the past twenty-four years. Have you heard of 'The Preserver'?"

"Indeed, my older siblings told me stories about his prowess. Quite a stubborn person." Victoria said as she brushed off her hair bangs.

"I'm curious how this develops." Igor chuckled.

* * *

**04/10, Tuesday, Early Morning.**

"Oh man… that dream again." Shin said with annoyance. It was clear that he already had enough in his head to even think about the weird room at the moment. "Well, time for school again." He left his futon while taking a towel and his clean uniform before showering.

Meanwhile, Hikaru woke up at the same time with the same attitude. She wasn't in the mood to prepare the breakfast, but she had to cook it regardless. She left her bed while looking if her father returned home. She began checking his bedroom only to see him still asleep. She wondered if he came late.

She decided not to bother him and go back to her room to get her uniform before preparing breakfast. While cooking the eggs and bacon, she couldn't stop thinking about yesterday. She asked herself if it was a dream but felt the necessity to ask Shin too if she wasn't the only one. It wasn't normal, but oddly enough, it looked like something that she would like to confirm once again.

"Ugh, what am I thinking?" She tried to shrug off that thought from her head. Whether it was a nightmare or not, that place was dangerous without a doubt. Hikaru grabbed two plates to serve the food on the table. She put two slices of bread into the toaster while waiting for her brother to come downstairs.

She sat while looking at around. It was hard not to compare her own house with the other side's. She looked at the clock hanging on the wall. They still had time before heading to school. She started preparing an egg sandwich for her father until he wakes up. She tried to keep her mind busy while not caring about that weird place. It was useless.

"Good morning." Shin greeted his sister as he took his seat.

"Morning…" She replied while almost done of making the sandwich. Hikaru grabbed the toasts and put them on a plate, right in the middle of the table. She took her seat as well while starting to eat her meal.

There was silence between the twins. Not a single word came out from her mouths. It was clear that neither of them wants to start the conversation as the very first thing would be about the other side. They kept masticating their eggs and beacon with serenity.

"Ummm… Shin?" Hikaru broke the silence.

"Yes?" He replied.

"So… uhhh… about that place…"

"Hikaru, please, don't." Shin interjected while putting his fork on the table. His face looked serious than usual. That wasn't something that her sister would expect him to behave like that.

"B-But…"

"Just… Forget it, alright. I don't know exactly, but it wasn't a dream if that's what you wanted to ask." He began drinking his glass of orange juice. "I don't want to know more about it. Let's keep living normally and pretend that nothing happened yesterday."

"Okay…" Hikaru complied with a dismissing look.

The ambient felt tense as they finished their breakfast and grabbed their backpacks to go for their second day of classes. As they were walking towards the bus stop, silence engulfed both twins once again. It acted like an invisible barrier that separated them while sitting next to each other on the bus.

They knew very well that no matter how many times they want to deny it, there was no turning back. From now on, their ordinary lives wouldn't be the same ever again.


	6. Chapter 6

One the school gates, Shin started to hear the other students' gossips. Some of them weren't subtle enough, as anyone could listen to them.

"Ugh, I forgot to use the alarm this morning. I almost lost my bus." The whinny student said to his friend.

"Yeah, you kinda live on the opposite side of the island." The annoyed student yawned. "By the way, did you watch Wolfboy's latest video?"

"I did, and it sucks. I guess I will unsubscribe."

"Me too, this guy is a total joke with all that myth-busting in the island." The students kept talking about the 'Mytuber.' Shin wasn't fond of watching videos on the internet. He kept walking towards the school before the first bell. For some reason, Tengoku looked not as exciting as the previous day. As if something felt not quite right.

"Yo!" Shin heard a voice as he was approaching the locker's shoes. "How's going, dude?" Yoshi greeted with a confident smile.

"Hey." Shin replied, but he wasn't much in the mood.

"What's with the long face? Do you have a stomachache or something?"

"No, I'm fine… just tired."

"I understand, I don't like mornings as well. But hey? Today is just the second day, at least we won't have to deal with Fujin-sensei for today." Yoshi tried to light Shin's mood a little. "By the way, you and Matsu-san are coming to school together. Are you dating or something?"

"What? No! She is my sister!" The other guy was surprised by hearing that.

"Say whaaaa? I didn't know that! How come you are siblings if both have different family names?" Yoshi was confused. Shin wondered if he was already acquainted with Hikaru.

"We lived in separated homes as our parents are divorced. And you? Are you friends with her?"

"Sort of, I knew her since middle school as our parents did business in the past. Although she never mentioned having a brother."

"It was recent that both of us discovered that part of 'separated at birth' thing." Shin chuckled as how fast things went for him about the fact.

"Be glad that things didn't turn out like those _telenovelas_ that my _Abuela_ watches all the time." Yoshi spoke with an odd accent. Shin didn't notice at first as he began to listen to him mentioning Spanish words. "Oops, sorry, I guess my tongue slipped."

"If you say so…" Shin didn't mind. He looked at his phone to see the time. "Shoot, we are going to be late for class. Better hurry up, I think we will start with science."

"Seriously? Man, I don't like science." The other student wasn't happy about it. Shin understood him very well as he didn't like that class either. Both of them headed to the classroom, Hikaru already went ahead of her brother.

They began taking their seats before their teacher could arrive. Hikaru was already sitting while looking at her phone. She quietly texted without paying attention to Shin. The rest of the students took their respective seats as the teacher was approaching to the classroom.

Her appearance was something that you might expect. She was wearing casual clothes, a lab coat, and thick glasses. Through and through, all the students yelled 'Alert Nerd' inside their minds. "Good morning." She greeted the class.

"Morning." They replied in a more casual tone. While disrespectful for most students, the students knew that she wasn't as scary as their homeroom teacher.

"Allow me to introduce myself." She started to clear her throat and adjusting her glasses. "My name is Mika Edogawa, your Science Teacher for this year. I hope to get along with all of you." She said with a gentle tone.

"Before starting with today's lecture, I will share some information about myself. I was born and grew up in Iwatodai City with my parents and obnoxious brother. Despite my brother and I became teachers, he was way into cultism stuff that made him a little cuckoo while I prefer to adhere to facts such as biology and physics." All students reacted with a sweatdrop.

'_I think this is going to be a long day.' _Shin thought. He sighed while listening to everything Miss Edogawa kept telling the story of her life. Shin did his best to put his mind in blank for the whole period.

* * *

**Morning**

Further away on the Komyo Forest, one could hear the winds rousing the wildlife by hitting the branches and leaves. There were loud voices as one could get to the center of the woods. Within limits, one could see smoke coming from there, smoke from some chimneys inside various shacks. The area was being fortified with trunks surrounding them as if it was made to separate from the dangers of outside.

Hidden from the rest of the island it was the village of the Isai Tribe, where the tanukis live I harmony while hidden themselves from the human civilization. They were a community, looking for each other while never stopping on their respective duties: some collected fruits, mushrooms, fishes, or small prey.

One couldn't say for sure how long they been living there, but clearly for the longest time as some of them weren't too keen on modern technology. The customs and behavior were from the last century as one could find it evident in their homes' arrangements and daily routines.

It felt like paradise for them, or so they thought.

"Order! Order!" Inside an old temple, big enough to contain more than one hundred and fifty tanukis in one crowded place for an assembly. Among the crowd, three of the eldest members of the tribe were sitting on the center while being surrounded in a circle. One of the elders was trying to calm everyone as there were too many voices engulfing the place.

"He said… ORDER!" The second eldest shouted from the bottom of his lungs to shut the audience from talking. The place became quiet as to how scary enough the second elder's attitude was despite his composure. "Thank you."

"Now, shall we start talking about the reason we gather everyone?" The first elder asked the other two.

"Absolutely." The third elder, the only female of the three, said strictly. "As all of you know, we have been through a crisis for the last couple of months. Times like this require cooperation from everyone."

"Which that leads us to our first point." The first elder spread a scroll at the cent erf o the circle. "Back in January, we started to get a problem around the island. It has no human involvement, but they certainly don't make our job easier. Some of our harvests were running low, the resources were getting scarce, and most of all, weird climatic anomalies."

The tanukis in the assembly started to murmur among themselves without raising their voices.

"Of course, you know things aren't hopeless as we finally got a signal, a message from the old scriptures about all those occurrences. To restore this issue, we must collect the 'Symbols' that been scattered and lost on this island from centuries ago by our ancestors." The first elder kept explaining while reading the scroll.

"We know that, Demu-san!" The second elder scolded. "And that brings us to our second point… AMATSUKI, COME HERE!" He yelled while everyone in the assembly covered their ears. Among the crowd, one of the tanukis tried to approach the center.

Amatsuki wore a vest and small straw hat. She looked anxious as she was getting near to the elders. She couldn't bear the feelings as the eyes of every single tribe member followed her. She took deep breaths to calm herself from the pressure. It was futile as she slowly felt overwhelmed.

"There you are, Amatsuki-chan." The third elder said to the young tanuki. "Tell me, how was your progress on gathering the Symbols?"

"Everything is going fine as I was able to get more than last month's result." She spoke while clearing her own throat.

"Nice to hear it." The first elder said while taking a pair of glasses to read a small memo on his right paw. "However, from what I heard recently about your progress lately, you stumbled with a Symbol in possession of a human in the last few days."

"Do you understand what we are referring to?" The third elder asked Amatsuki.

"I… I suppose."

"There's no doubt that you are intelligent enough to comprehend that humans aren't trustworthy, but what in the world were you doing by interacting with them?"

"To retrieve the Symbols, naturally."

"Did you forget that interacting with humans can endanger the whole tribe!?" The second elder growled.

"O-Of course not! While I tried to retrieve it, I was forced to cooperate since we ended up trapped in the Sitra Achra. It was a matter of survival until I finally made it out and accomplished part of my duty." Amatsuki crossed her arms while done the explaining. The elders began talking to each other's ears. For the young tanuki, doubts were getting bigger among the crowd.

"Well, there's no denying that the Shadows from the place can be dangerous if one goes alone. We won't ask how exactly you were able to survive there but consider this a warning. Do you know what happened to the last person that made contact with humans?"

"Exile…" Amatsuki said with a grimace.

"And we don't want to happen to you, right?"

"No, sir!" The young tanuki said with a straight face.

"Good, as for the rest of all of you, continue with your duties." The elders stood up while looking at everyone. "End of the assembly." Everyone started to leave the place with the elders being the first among the crowd. Amatsuki tried to go as well but it was difficult for her as some of the inhabitants were blocking her way.

She felt somewhat scared as she could hear murmurs from some of the people. They were judging due to her experience of dealing with humans first hand. Isolated, felt that there was nothing she could that about that. The youngest tanuki felt alone at times in her own home.

Once outside, she saw another tanuki with a bandana on the neck approaching her. "Oi! Ama-chan!" He greeted her with an upbeat tone.

"Hey Maru, I didn't see you there. Something happened?"

"I was busy trying to catch some fishes on the river. I almost caught the River Guardian!" He sounded both excited yet frustrated. Amatsuki chuckled due to her friend's attitude. "Did I miss something?"

"Not much the usual stuff."

"I bet the elders kept pestering you about your task again, isn't it?" Amatsuki nodded, prompting both of them to sigh. "I knew the fact that you dealt with humans and that place, but I'm glad you made it tell."

"Thanks. Also, I appreciated for helping me on the searching for Symbols last week. I was getting desperate about not getting results." The young tanuki aid with a smile.

"No prob, that's the most I could do since your shapeshifting skills are still a lot to be desired." Maru snickered.

"Haha… funny." Amatsuki rolled her eyes.

"Indeed, funny when it's true." Another tanuki said while approaching them. He had dark, messy fur than the rest. Neither Amatsuki nor Maru looked happy to see him.

"What do you want now, Tenchaki?" She asked in disdain.

"Nothing in particular, just I couldn't resist hearing of your struggles of being in charge of this quest." The rough-looking tanuki said mockingly to the young one.

"Buzz off! Don't tell me you are still bitter because you weren't chose." Maru went to defend his friend.

"It doesn't matter. It won't take too long before she would screw it up with this." Tenchaki began walking away with smug. "Oh, by the way, how's your grandpa?" That question was enough to infuriate Amatsuki.

"You little…!" She tried to run after Tenchaki, but Maru stopped her by pulling her tail to restrain her. "H-Hey! Let me go!"

"He ain't worth the trouble! Calm down, Ama-chan!" He kept pulling her tail until Tenchaki could go farther from them. "Are you done?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, but that jerk!"

"I understand how you feel, but don't let that guy get into your head."

"I know…" Amatsuki gave a bigger sigh as she was mentally exhausted. "Well, I guess I should go back to my task."

"Hold on. Since you worked so hard, you should get the day off or something."

"You think so, and what you expect me to do?" The young tanuki crossed her arms.

"How about helping me to catch the River Guardian since I helped you before?"

"Maybe… but at least I won't be the one eating the bait before catching something."

"Ouch, now that's a deep wound, Ama-chan." Both of them started to laugh while heading to the fishing spot.

* * *

**Lunchtime**

"Oh boy, I thought I wouldn't survive until now." Yoshi said to Shin while containing his yawn.

"Yeah, but it wasn't as bad I expected." The teenager said while stretching his arms. "Are you going to get some lunch?"

"Me? Sorry, but I got called to the teachers' lounge for some academic stuff. I will see you next period, dude." Yoshi left the classroom with an annoyed expression. Shin looked at Hikaru as she was being lost in thought. Since the first hour, he noticed her attitude was somewhat disjointed than usual.

"Are you alright?" Shin asked.

"Huh…? Oh, no, I'm fine." She seemed lost. Hikaru started to check her phone for new text messages. "Oh my, I have to go."

"Where exactly? Are you not going for lunch?"

"Sorry, but I must help my friend Aiko. I will see you later." Hikaru took her backpack, leaving her brother alone in the classroom. Shin scratched the back of his head while wondering how he ended up like that. He decided to take his lunch, which consisted a cream-stuffed bread and a bottle of milk.

"I need some fresh air." He said to himself while heading to the school's courtyard. He looked at the window to see if there was an excellent place to sit. He saw a tree with some shadows, looked nice for the teenager. He went there without much in mind. He saw how cloudy the day was, and no one could see where the sun went. There will be rain for sure.

Shin sat next to the tree while enjoying his lunch. As he was looking at his surroundings he noticed most of the students preferred to stay inside the school rather than being on the courtyard. Shin thought it was a shame since the outside felt peaceful. As he was drinking his milk, a couple of leaves were falling off the tree, landing above his head. He looked up to see what was going on.

"What the…?" Much to his surprise, he noticed a female student sitting on a branch while reading a book. She was focused that she didn't see the leaves were stockpiling on Shin's head. "Excuse me?" He tried to call her out, but she didn't listen. "Hey!"

"Mhhh…?" She finally reacted. The student looked below her to who was calling her. She saw Shin covered in leaves. "Eck! I'm sorry!" She apologized while climbing down the tree.

"It is fine. What were you doing there?" Shin asked with a calm tone.

"I-I was reading on my favorite spot. Sorry if I bothered you." The student vowed before walking away.

"Wait a sec!" Shin stopped her before she could go any further.

"What's the matter?"

"Which book were you reading?" He said with curiosity while looking at the cover.

"Oh, the is _Songs of the Bay_. It's about stranded sailors and some fantasy elements. Do you know about it?" Despite her quiet tone, she showed a lot of passion for the book.

"No, but I like to read a lot. Sounds interesting." Shin complemented.

"You think? I never thought someone would care since it's an old book. What other kinds of books you read?"

"It varies, sometimes classic novels or modern ones. I do read some autobiographies or anthologies. I don't have a particular taste."

"I see…" The girl started to play with her bangs while thinking.

"What about you?"

"Me? I say mostly fantasy, but I like non-fiction as well." She felt that she couldn't come up with much to say. Shin wondered if she doesn't interact with people often.

"Is that so? I might have some books to share if you are interested."

"I appreciate that, but I prefer to read alone if it's not much of a problem." She lowered her head while walking away from Shin. "Thank you, though." The student said while holding her book as she was hugging it. Shin was again left alone. He sighed as he tried to finish his lunch. Not too long later, a couple of raindrops slowly fell. Shin decided to go back inside before getting worse.


	7. Chapter 7

**Afterschool.**

"Welp, that's all for today. See all of you tomorrow." Mr. Fujin said everyone while leaving the classroom. The second day of school felt much more tiresome for Class 2B. It was weird as Shin noticed that Hikaru left school since lunchtime. He sent a message to see what happened to her.

**Sh:** Hey, where did you go?

**Hi:** Sorry but I had to help my friend Aiko with something important.

**Hi:** I will see you later at home.

**Sh: **OK, see you.

Shin sighed about the moment. He packed his stuff to head back home since he didn't get any plans for the day.

"Hey, Maeda! Heading home early?" Yoshi asked Shin.

"Yeah."

"Where's your sister? Isn't she supposed to be here? She hadn't returned after lunch"

"She told me right now about taking some business with a friend." He said with a half-smile.

"Friend…? Oh, she must be busy again with Murata-san." Yoshi commented something that Shin took him by surprise.

"Do you know her?"

"Everyone knows about Murata-san." The jovial teenager said with a glance as if something bothered him about Hikaru's friend. "In any case, since you don't have plans for today, how about we hit the arcades on the city?"

"I don't know…"

"Oh, come on! I bet you still don't know about the rest of the island, isn't it? Think of me as your tourist guide, especially since Matsu-san isn't here with you." Yoshi tried to give a winning smile to the transfer student. Shin chuckled as he knew how persistent he would be if he would say no.

"Sure, I guess I could get to know the city better since I didn't get far."

"Alrighty then. Let's get to a bus for the city right away!" Yoshi went ahead to go outside the classroom. Shin scratched his head while looking confused about how amiable he was with him.

Yoshi Yokoyama, the kind of teenager he would be friends with everyone in and out of school. At least for the most part due to his odd attitude. Some found him charming, others annoying, but it was undoubtedly that he was known for being a ray of living sunshine as his optimistic attitude could light anyone's mood.

Shin found it surprising that Yoshi offered himself to show more about the city despite just meeting him since yesterday. One couldn't complain about making friends for the second day of school anyways.

"So, what brings you here on this island?" Yoshi asked as he and Shin were traveling on the bus.

"That…" He wasn't sure to answer that. He wondered if to make a vague answer or ignoring it. "I just wanted to move out for a different experience. That's all."

"Is that so? Well, I can't blame you since this island rocks, in my opinion." Yoshi got a lot of enthusiasm on his voice. "How familiar are you with Tokyo?"

"Never been there before."

"Oh? I went there once with my dad on one of his work trips: a huge place, lots of people. I could compare the metropolitan area being somewhat similar to there. One thing that makes me like the island is how much tourism you get and foreign companies here."

"That sounds interesting." Shin replied with his mind somewhere else. He tried not to look rude about ignoring the conversation. He started watching the environment as the bus was traveling. Trees, houses, and the ocean were the most common things he could see on the road before entering a tunnel.

As he looked on his reflection on the window, he saw a blue butterfly flying above him. He turned his eyes up, but nothing was there. Shin wondered if he just felt tired again. The bus went through the tunnel minutes later.

"We arrived." Yoshi said to the transfer student while looking at the tall buildings with so many banners and TV screens on the main street. Quite a surprise, he never visited that side of the city when he and Hikaru went to buy school supplies. "Pretty dazzling, huh? Just wait when we are at night. Then everything is covered in neon."

"I can imagine it." Shin said the bus was slowing down on the closest stop. Both teenagers left the bus while admiring the main street. Crowded and chatty, Yoshi described the people being more beautiful than other places. One couldn't be sure who might encounter since the island was a small world.

"What do you think, huh? Impressed?"

"I am. Where exactly are the arcades?"

"Right this way." Yoshi pointed at the two-story building across the street. Huge banners on the windows about games. Shin found it surprising as didn't expect a whole building being only arcades rather than a small place than usual ones. They entered as the doors automatically opened and seeing the interior. It wasn't an average arcade; it was full of collector's stores from various types of entertainment.

Movies, mangas, animes, videogames, cosplay, books, and music from around the world; Shin couldn't believe that such a place could exist at first, and that was a lot to process it. Too bad, he was short in money to buy anything from there. Only spare change for the day. "So, where are the arcade machines?" Shin asked.

"The second floor, follow me." Yoshi walked towards the closest elevator. As soon as both teenagers stepped inside, the jovial guy pressed the button while closing the doors. They waited a couple of minutes until they stopped. They started seeing the whole floor in a different light as it was divided into various sections, including playgrounds such as jungle gyms. "Surprised? It is almost having like your own little Destinyland here. Too bad there are no roller coasters, though." Yoshi commented as they kept walking towards the arcades.

So far, Shin couldn't stop looking at his surroundings as there was nothing such as that back home or anywhere else for that matter.

"Alright, which one you want to try first?" Yoshi asked.

"Not so sure, maybe a racing game."

"Nice choice. Let's see who's the fastest!" With excitement, both teenagers inserted two 100-yen coins to start the game. They linked the game for two-player mode and started selecting their cars. After choosing the racetrack, they got ready with both hands on the steering wheel and the gas pedal. It became a serious business as soon as the race started.

Their cars accelerated while leaving fire on their traces. They looked carefully between the obstacles such as AI-controlled racers, civilians, and signs on the road that could slow them down. Shin took the cautious approach to step on the brake to drift around and not making contact. However, that tactic was challenging to focus on a lot of things on his way. Yoshi was reckless as he tackled against the other racers, but that created a domino effect of slowing the competition, including Shin. The downside was less mobility, and the chances to crash were higher.

The further they passed the checkpoints, the more erratic the race became for both teenagers. One after the other, they struggle for the leading place while being against the clock. Neck on neck, they reached top speed and didn't let the gas pedal go until the finishing line.

"_WINNER!"_ The game shouted while showing it to Yoshi's screen. The game left both of them exhausted.

"Man, that a close one." Shin sighed.

"Yeah, but I won't deny that you almost got me there if it wasn't for that old lady walking in the road." Yoshi chuckled. "I guess if it was real, things could go terrible for me."

"I suppose, but at least I know what to do for the next round."

"Alright, let's start agai…" Before Yoshi could insert more credits into the game, he started hearing murmurs from behind. A group of teenagers looked at him while whispering into their ears. "You know, what? We should play a different game."

"Are you sure? I don't mind trying again." Shin's face was full of confusion as he saw Yoshi stopping smiling out of the blue. Did Shin say something that upset him?

"Nah, I want you to try more games before getting late. I saw this machine to pile squares into a tower." The teenager kept smiling as he walked towards the game he mentioned. Shin started looking around until he noticed the group of teenagers. Not the friendliest bunch you may expect on the island. It was for the best to not ask anything.

As time flew, they played most of the games on the floor, but not all of them as the place was spacious, and they already got two hours. Right where they were done, the teenagers started to feel hungry. As they walked out of the building, Shin saw a police officer in a bicycle trying to talk with a foreigner girl with brunette hair. From what it looked, the officer wasn't much in control as he couldn't understand what she was saying.

"So, where you want to eat?" Yoshi asked.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know what I want. Do you any recommendations?"

"I know a place where they serve pizza nearby. Wanna come?"

"Sure. Let's go." Shin said while Yoshi guided him down the street. The place he suggested was steps away and seemed that people were gathering around. Its names "Antonino's" and appeared a popular spot for the inhabitants such as both teenagers and adults sat while enjoying the food. The opened the door and went looking for a table for the two of them. They sat and grabbed the menus to see the topping options until the waiter came to ask for the drinks. So far, they thought the service was excellent.

"Which ingredients do you like?"

"I don't know, do you have suggestions?" Shin kept looking at the menu.

"Well, from what I can recall, there's the house pizza which has tomato slices, spinach, onion, and mushrooms." Yoshi pointed out the item for Shin.

"That sounds like a vegetarian pizza."

"Well, that is what I heard from a guy known as 'The Gourmet Guru.' He left an opinion about this place."

"Who is this 'Gourmet Guru' you are talking about?" Shin raised an eyebrow.

"Just a guy that makes blogs about various foods in Japan. So far, he used to call himself 'Gourmet King' back in 2008 when he was in high school. Not many details, but the food he shows is really appetizing."

"I can believe it." Shin commented as he looked for a different option. Out of all the times, he saw one that said, "Deep-Dish Tower." However, it didn't explain what it was exactly, not even the price. "Hey, you know what the Deep-Dish Tower is?"

"Oh, I think we can't ask for that."

"Why not?" As soon as Yoshi was about to answer, an alarm rang in the restaurant. Noise and people started to focus their eyes on a table that was under the spotlight. "What's is going on?" Shin asked, but there was no response until he saw two waiters pushing a food cart out of the kitchen. What they were promoting was a large tower-like pizza towards the table in the spotlight.

"Ready on our mark. Go!" The waiter yelled while to customer started stuffing himself with the tower. Shin looked in disgust with how the person tried to eat at a fast pace.

"That, my friend, is the Deep-Dish Tower. It is a challenge who can finish it in the least amount of time."

"Are you serious? What's the prize for finishing something like that?" The teenager asked in confusion.

"Nobody knows, even the people who were able to accomplish it never said what the prize was. As much I can tell you, they didn't have to pay for it, at least." As Yoshi was done explaining, another alarm rang, prompting the customer to stop eating. The food wasn't even half-way done.

"I'm so sorry, but it appears that you ran out of time and couldn't finish the challenge." The waitress said with an apologetic tone. "But don't worry, you will receive a coupon for your next visit. Don't forget to pay your bill before leaving." Everyone stopped looking at the losing customer as the waiters scattered around. Shin and Yoshi decided to look at the menu again and order something before losing their appetite after witnessing such a moment. They ate and made small talk before the evening.

* * *

"Come on. You haven't caught anything, not even a cold."

"I would probably get something if it wasn't the fact that I'm doing all the work here!" Two tanukis were waiting next to the riverbank, trying to fish for hours. Maru was sitting on top of a tree branch while observing Amatsuki held the fishing rod. Both tanukis bickered non-stop that one might think they scared the fish away. "I don't like this weather." She looked at the cloudy sky while putting her straw hat aside.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't the best idea for today."

"That sounded like the smartest thing you could ever say in your whole life."

"Hey!" Maru yelled while Amatsuki chuckled. Before they could call it a day, something started pulling the fishing rod. "You got something! Don't let it escape!"

"Got it!" She reacted by pulling the rod away. They couldn't see what exactly she caught, but it was strong enough that made her almost fell off to the river. "Some help would be nice, don't you think!?"

"Alright, alright… Let the expert handle this." Maru jumped down from the tree and started pulling the rod alongside Amatsuki. Even if both of them worked together, the catch wouldn't give up that easily. "Oh boy, this one is big! I hope the River Guardian this time!"

"Don't get your hopes up! Keep pulling!" She yelled while using all her strength to the breaking point. They could feel the rod slowly breaking apart. "Almost! Just a little…Ah!" In an instant, something jumped out from the water that made them fell to the ground and hitting their heads. "Oww! What in the world…!?"

"Did we get the River Guardian!?" Maru looked desperately if that fish was on land or went back to the water. As expected, no fish at sight, but something caught him by surprise as he saw the hook. "Well, would you look at that?" He showed a toy soldier being stuck in the fishing line.

"You have to be kidding me." Amatsuki said disappointingly.

"Well, what can I say? Your luck isn't even that great." Maru laughed. "I guess we should call it a day." As he suggested, he went after the toy soldier that they caught, but when looking at the river, he saw another one got dragged by the stream. His eyes slowly redirected the upper river until he saw something unusual. "Huh… Ama-chan?"

"Yes? What is it now?"

"Maybe you should look at this." Maru sounded serious as if something truly worried him. It was unusual for Amatsuki to hear her friend in such a tone. The tanuki with straw hat looked at the river, where more toy soldiers were being piled as if someone dropped a box full of those. But that couldn't be possible as the section they were at was out of reach for any human. It was no accident.

"No…It cannot be!" She muttered in terror as raindrops started to fall.

* * *

**Evening**

Shin returned home after he was done eating pizza with Yoshi. As soon as the day became dark, it began to rain violently. He was glad that he brought an umbrella for emergencies, but he hurried to get inside before getting soaked. The house got the lights already on as he opened the door and stepped inside.

"Welcome back." Hikaru greeted from the kitchen.

"Hey, when did you returned?" Shin took off his shoes and walked towards the living room.

"Two hours ago. What took you so long?"

"I was doing some tourism with this guy Yokoyama in our class. He said that he knew you."

"He d-did? I… I didn't know that…" Hikaru's voice trembled, Shin noted that she acted odd as he mentioned their classmate.

"Is everything alright?"

"I'm fine! Fine... just finishing making the dinner. Dad said he would come early tonight."

"Alright, let me go back to my room and take off my uniform." Shin went upstairs while Hikaru put the sliced vegetables into the pot. With nothing else to cook, she started accommodating the table by herself. The girl began got lost in her thoughts about the last couple of days. Since her brother's arrival, things began to take a sudden change. First, it was discovering that nightmarish world from the previous night, and now, her father started to come how earlier than usual. After being alone for the years, why until now?

She shook her head and sighed, trying not to think too much of the situation.

"Shin? Hikaru? I'm home." Their father shouted at the doorstep. "Oh, what's that smell? It's delicious."

"I made soup. At least from what I could find at the kitchen."

"Ah, I must compliment you for the creative idea. I'll make sure to go shopping this week." Tsuba sat on the table as Hikaru gave him a plate and spoon while he served a cup of tea. "Where's your brother?"

"Is upstairs. He just came after hanging out with a classmate after school."

"Already made a friend? That's good. It is always great for making friends in life." He took a sip of his tea. "Speaking of friends, Aiko's mother told me that you left school after lunchtime with her."

"Sorry that I didn't tell you first, but she asked me to help her with today's therapy."

"I understand that, but you better tell me first above everything."

"I usually do, but you rarely reply." Hikaru looked at the floor, something that her father became worried.

"I…" Tsuba was out of words. The moment he wanted to reply, he heard Shin walking downstairs. "There you are... Take a seat. I have something important to tell you."

"What is it?" Shin asked as he took his chair. His father looked at him directly at the eyes.

"I thought that we should go somewhere nice for your birthday. Like a little trip on the island or dinner at a restaurant from the city." As their father spoke with enthusiasm, Shin looked at him with confusion.

"My birthday?" The teenager asked.

"Yeah, the 24th of this month. Something wrong with that?"

"My birthday isn't in this month." Shin's response gave a surprising look to both father and sister.

"Isn't it? I thought since you and Hikaru share the same birthday...Well, sorry if I didn't ask first." Things began to look awkward among them. "You know, I will leave to your choice if you want to celebrate soon or the other date if that makes you feel comfortable." Tsuba sighed.

"I guess…?" Shin shrugged.

"Anyway, Hikaru told me that you made a new friend at a school."

"I did, his name is Yoshi Yokoyama. He told me that his dad did some business with you."

"Yokoyama… ah, that's right. He helped me to set my business. I actually know him since high school." Their father tried to change the mood. He began telling stories from 24 years ago and the people he met on the island. Nothing extraordinaire for a teenager at that time. "You know, it is funny how much had passed back then and now."

"Are you still in contact with your friends at that time?" Hikaru asked.

"Well, many of them left the island to pursue their dreams. I tried once calling them, but surely they are busy." His face turned into a grimace. "Although, from what I heard, one of them got arrested recently."

"What's his name?" Shin asked.

"His name is Kotoro Abe. He… uh, we had some complications." Tsuba looked away, remembering things that probably weren't fond of. "I should tell you this. No matter how hard things are in this life, friends are the most important part of growing up. One can't confront things alone, you know." The twins reflected on their father's words. How much did he go through?

How much tension does he had with that person? Until now, Hikaru didn't even know about that side of him. "Can you promise me something, both of you?" He extended both arms, reaching his children by touching their shoulders. "No matter what, you will always help each other from now and this future." The twins nodded. "Good. Now, let's eat because I started to get hungry."

Hikaru went to the kitchen to move the pot to the table and serving everyone's bowl. The soup she made contained carrots, potatoes, cabbages, onions, and radishes. An improvised vegetarian soup as something everyone could describe it. That satisfied the family despite not having meat due to its flavor and aroma. A healthy dinner to end the day was what they needed.

"I'm stuffed." Shin laid his head against the table.

"Likewise, I could mistake that you want us fat." Tsuba chuckled. "It is getting late. You better go to sleep early while I wash the dishes." Without questions, the twins went said goodnight as they went upstairs. He never felt his home more vivid than ever, especially from years ago. He looked at the window, seeing the nasty weather they were having that night.

Something wasn't feeling right. The lights began to flicker as he heard thunders from outside. He slowly stood up and went to the kitchen, trying to look for the kitchen knives. He tried to keep a composed face, but his heartbeat accelerated. He got a cold sweat when he got the cleaver knife in his right hand. And it happened, another blackout in the house.

"How many times I have to deal with them? 24 years and none of you are still not learning, right?" Tsuba said as he took a deep breath, swinging the knife on his side. Even in the darkness, he could see what was next to him. It had a humanoid appearance in which the right arm fell off to the ground. Despite its form, the face was being covered with a minimalistic mask. It stood with a threating aura in front of the man, prompting him into a fighting stance with his knife in position to attack again.

"Dare to harm my children, and you will see what's coming to you. Damn Shadow."


	8. Chapter 8

Chaos got unleashed inside the house as the mysterious figure tried to attack Tsuba in the kitchen. The man tried to fight back by using the knife on the assailant, but no matter how many times he stabbed it, it didn't react to pain. The way moved its limbs were unnatural and only acted with crude moves that were predictable enough to dodge.

"You better leave my house now." He said with a lowkey, yet aggressive tone towards the assailant. "I guess you leave me no choice." Tsuba kicked it out of the kitchen, moving the fight to the living room. Once on there, the twin's father tried to stab it once again while lying on the floor. The mysterious avoided the attack like a crawling snake.

It tried to counter him by grabbing the table and smashing him. Tsuba's reflexes were fast enough to block it with his left arm but weren't good as he got injure in the process. The assailant tried to hit him with both arms, but Tsuba swiftly rolled out of danger while doing a sweep kick on its legs. It fell quickly to the ground, leaving it open for another attack. He went all-out as the twin's father jumped and sliced the assailant's head with the knife.

The mask cut in two, it slowly faded away by forming miniature shards flying in the air. The man felt exhausted from the fight, tried to take deep breaths while looking at his surroundings. Hard to remember when the last time he did such a thing in a long time. Age truly caught him up until that moment.

Even if the attacker did disappear, Tsuba wasn't feeling safe yet. One isn't enough to take him down but couldn't stop worrying about the chances that they weren't alone. He rushed upstairs to see if there wasn't more. His heartbeat began to increase as he saw the empty floor. Nothing at sight, which prompted him to enter his room as it was the closest door.

In silence, Tsuba opened the door and went towards the closet as he jumped over his bed. He almost tripped as he lost some balance due to his injured arm. On top where he had a lot of clean blankets and pillows, put his head as he was looking for something underneath them.

Anxious on the situation, anything to protect his family, he pulled a sheathed sword. One could wonder why he kept it in his room, especially that doesn't seem for collecting purposes. Tsuba slowly drew the worn-out sword, which was short on length, and mildly sharp of been a replica.

"Get away from me!" Tsuba heard Hikaru's scream through the wall. He headed directly to his daughter's room with the sword at hand. He could listen to stuff getting broken as he approached and got his hand on the doorknob. However, the door was locked.

"Hikaru!" The man knocked on the door, but there was no response. "Stay back! I will kick the door down!" As he said, he tried one after another until the doorknob popped out with the final kick. Tsuba not only saw the room as a disaster, but he saw Shin trying to fight the other assailant while Hikaru was lying on the floor. "Hika-chan!" Their father said in concernment and anger as he saw that thing trying to strangle his son. With a firm grip, Tsuba swung his sword and cut the assailant's arm. It got killed instantly with another swing on the head.

It fell apart if someone broke an ice statue. Was it frozen? How could it be possible? Tsuba didn't put much thought as he went to check his daughter's wellbeing. He looked close to her face, nothing severe or significant injuries. Such a relief that she was fine, but he looked at Shin with serious eyes. "What happened here?"

"I-I don't know. I heard Hikaru from my room and saw her throwing stuff at that thing before I stopped it. She got punched when trying to lock the door." Shin explained as he contemplated his hands with surprise. He felt a chill sensation as if he held snowballs barehanded as his palms and fingers were numb. Tsuba noticed it as well.

"What did you do to that Shadow?" His father asked.

"Shadow? How did they get to the real world!?" Shin said shockingly.

"Real-world!? When did you…!?" Tsuba interrupted himself the moment he saw the bracelet on Shin's left wrist. It had a small grey jewel. "Where did you get this?" Asked desperately.

"Just found it in my room on my first day here. Could you tell me what is happening?" The moment felt heated as both had many questions to ask the other. But that didn't leave enough time as they heard footsteps coming from outside the room. The patterns were louder as they approached. Tsuba closed the door and formed a barricade with Hikaru's desk. "You mentioned that thing was a Shadow, how do you know about them!?"

"Sorry we don't have enough time. I need you to take your sister away from the house and call Sato on my phone."

"Sato? Why don't we call the police!?"

"No, they can't handle this. I want you to call Sato and ask to stay in his place for the night. Don't tell him any of this." Tsuba put his sword away when walking close to the window. He opened it as he saw the storm agitating the threes, and the rain was aggravating. It wasn't the best weather to go out.

"Do you want to fight Shadows alone!? Let me help you, give me something and…"

"Shin, I need you to listen to me carefully." Tsuba kneeled and looked his son directly to the eyes. "I'm sorry that things are out of control. Never thought this would ever happen to us, but right now, I'll entrust you to keep your sister safe. Don't try to fight them. Don't try to say anyone from this, and don't ever try to go _there_ again. I know this so much responsibility I'm giving you, but I can trust you will make the right choice. Can you promise me you will keep each other safe?"

Shin was quiet. He couldn't understand exactly the situation, but he was able to feel his father's trust and determination despite no knowing each other for long.

"I…" The teenager tried to give a quick response but hesitated as he wants to help fight the Shadows off. They didn't have much time to discuss. He had to make up his mind quick.

"Do you promise me?" He asked once again while holding Shin's shoulders.

"I will." Fueled of determination, even if leaving his father alone would be a risk, Shin needed to save Hikaru as well. From his heart, he felt a power slowly growing within.

_I am thou, thou art I…_

_Thou hast acquired a new vow._

_Through the fated path thy chose,_

_vigor and mind for the dormant soul._

_With the birth of the Fool Persona,_

_I shalt receive the blessing for _

_a new dawn to restore paradise._

The teenager heard Victoria's voice in his head and wondered if someone else heard her as well. So far, Tsuba didn't act much different as he kept looking at his son. "Good." His father replied as he looked for his phone in his back pocket and handed it to the teenager. "My phone's lock code is 320. The storm is giving bad reception, so you must wait to get it clear." He stood up and tried to lift Hikaru with one arm, but he struggled until Shin went to help him.

They went to the window and saw the height between the window and the ground. It wasn't too bad, which Shin decided to jump down. It took no time to get quickly soaked by the rain. He caught Hikaru as Tsuba tried to lift her carefully and dropped her from the window. She got covered with a sheet so she wouldn't get soaked. "Careful."

"Alright." Shin said as he caught her and tried to give her a piggyback ride. He covered himself with the same blanket.

"Now, keep running until you are far enough. Don't get near the house until you can call Sato." Tsuba heard the door being kicked while pushing the barricade. The teenager nodded before turning around and running down the street. Tsuba could do nothing but seeing his children straying farther from home until he lost sight of them. There was relief and anguish as he was grabbed the sword and got his guarding stance ready as soon as the Shadows enter the room. "I know you can keep everyone safe." He took a deep breath as the door got destroyed.

* * *

On the street where light poles could illuminate some of the roads, Shin carried Hikura on his back with all his strength. He endured it as far he could go without sliding on some of the ponds of his way. Looking somewhere to take refuge from the storm would be difficult, he couldn't ask for any of the neighbors as his father told him to. The police weren't an option either as they can't deal with Shadows.

The road became hard to see as they were straying away from the light poles. They were lost, without knowing exactly to go and have the chance to call Sato to help them. It was just the twins by themselves in the darkness.

As Shin's legs began to stumble after twenty minutes of walking, he fell on his knees. He tried to get up, but he was exhausted, which barely could hold Hikaru in his back for much longer. They were under the rain, sneezing as he was feeling sick as he caught a cold.

On the road, a car was coming towards them. It slowly lost speed, braking to the point the car stopped next to twins. The driver opened the door and left to see them closely. "Maeda? Matsu?" He spoke with a confused tone, which Shin recognized the man's voice.

"Mr. Fujin?" The teenager looked up at his face.

"What are you two doing under the rain?" Their homeroom teacher asked as he pulled an umbrella over them. "You know what? Don't answer. Get in the car. I'll take you back to your house."

"No! Please, don't!" Shin raised his voice with a desperate tone.

"What? What's the matter with you?"

"I… I need you to get us somewhere else."

"Where exactly?" Mr. Fujin looked at the streets if anyone was looking. It wasn't the place or the time to ask. "Just get in the car, you can tell me where you need to go."

"R-Right!" Their teacher opened the back-seat door while Shin carefully put her sister while still covered with the blanket. The teenager went to the co-pilot seat before his teacher began to accelerate the car. They were silent as Mr. Fujin focused on the road while Shin looked behind to see how Hikaru was doing. She was still unconscious.

"Tell me, where do you want me to go?"

"To our godfather's house." Shin replied to his teacher.

"Alright, but what's the address?"

"I… dunno." Shin looked down as Mr. Fujin frowned.

"You don't know? Then why in the world want me to take you there if you don't even have the answer!?" Mr. Fujin yelled. "Look, I don't know what's the matter with you two, but as your homeroom teacher, I need to know exactly why you were under the rain like this."

"I can't tell you." The teenager said as he looked outside.

"Why not?"

"It's… complicated."

"Don't give me those half-assed answers, Maeda! Tell me what exactly is going on." Mr. Fujin said with annoyance.

"I made a promise."

"A promise? With who!?"

"My dad." Shin turned his head and looked at his teacher with a stern look. "He told me to keep my sister safe by going away from the house. It was nothing I could do about it, but to listen to him." The teenager's words made his teacher fell in silence for a brief moment, which Mr. Fujin took a deep breath while thinking about the situation. He shook his head and parked the car for a moment.

"Tell me, can you contact your godfather?" He asked Shin.

"I believe so, but the signal still has not returned yet." The teenager said while looking at his father's phone.

"I will take you somewhere safe until you can call him. There should be a convenience store or a gas station down the road." Mr. Fujin said as he looked ahead while slowing the car. "I can't believe this is happening in the first week of classes." He said with a groan the moment they found a 777 store and parked in front of there.

Their teacher turned off the car and grabbed his umbrella before leaving the twins alone. Shin checked his father's phone once again if the signal improved. Lucky for him, he finally got something.

"Alright." Shin said triumphantly as he unlocked the phone and looked at his father's contacts. He went through alphabetic order until he found Sato's full name is displayed. Shin tried to call Sato but didn't answer the phone. The teenager wondered if he wasn't busy with work even though it was already late. "Why isn't he responding?" Shin mumbled as he heard a sneeze from behind.

"Shin…?" Hikaru regained the conscious while trying to open her eyes. "Where… are we?"

"Mr. Fujin's car." He replied. "He is in the convenience store while I try to contact Sato."

"Sato? Why are you trying to…? Dad!" Hikaru jumped in terror as she slowly started to remember. "Where is he!? Is he alright!? Tell me what happened!?" She pulled Shin shoulders with non-stopping questions.

"Before I tell you, how much you remember after being attacked at your room?"

"N-Not enough… I can only recall my dad saying to be away from the door. And the next second, that guy knocked me out." Hikaru felt a headache after another sneeze. "Now, could you explain to me what happened afterward." Her tone aggravated when asking her brother.

"I… you wouldn't believe it, but the guy that attacked at your room was a Shadow." Shin's response was enough to make Hikaru shake her legs. "And that's not all, somehow, dad knows about what they are."

"This can't be… how!?"

"I don't know. I wish I could ask him more." Shin sighed in desperation as he couldn't get any answers on the phone. "After that, he… he made leave the house as more Shadows were coming upstairs."

"You… you leave him alone!? What's wrong with you!?" Hikaru yelled as her throat began to hurt. "Why…? Why you do that?"

"He told me to take you and try to call Sato so that we could stay at his house for this night. And that the police couldn't help with that." Shin looked down. He felt a lot of weight on his back of following his father's instructions.

The air felt tense between the twins while being accompanied by an unsettling silence. There wasn't much to do at the moment. Shin tried to contact their godfather, but the phone's battery was about to die.

"So… you said the ones that broke in our house were Shadows, right?" Hikaru broke the silence.

"Yeah, why?"

"You could simply call the police."

"The police wouldn't handle something like this." Shin shook his head.

"Then what about us?" Hikaru's comment made Shin turn his head with astonishing eyes.

"Are you joking?" He couldn't believe what he heard.

"I'm not. I want to go back home and try to help dad." Her eyes give that look of someone that doesn't do things lightly.

"You have any idea of what will happen if we do something? We don't have much of a chance to fight them in the real world. I couldn't summon Adam when they attacked us!" Shin got anxious about her sister's idea. Hikaru upsettingly left the door without the sheet or an umbrella and tried to walk away from the convenience store. Shin chased her after and grabbed her arm.

"Let me go! I need to go back!" She tried to pull her arm away from her brother.

"Don't think this rashly! We are far from our home. What exactly you plan once you get back?"

"You wouldn't understand!" She stepped away and glared at Shin while being soaked by the rain, the longer both twins stood there. "My father might not always be at home because of work, but he's been there for me from the very beginning. Do you think I would let the only family I have to go like that!?" She continued walking down the street despite no light on the road or exposed to the weather.

Shin clenched his fists as he went after his sister. He grabbed her arm once again and looked directly to the eyes.

"If you go, I'm too." He said with a supportive tone. "I would like to know that he is alright, but he entrusted me of taking you away from danger."

"He entrusted you, huh?" Hikaru looked down until she finally turned around to look at her brother. "If that's true, then I want to get back home."

"Of course, I will tell Mr. Fujin to take us back home."

"Alright." Hikaru sneezed, starting to feel a chill in her body. "Better get in the car before I get sick." Shin nodded as they returned to the car together.

Back at the convenience store, their homeroom teacher saw them through the window as he held a shopping bag on his left hand. He chuckled and shook his head as he returned to his car with his unamused expression. "You are finally awake, Matsu." He handed two drinks to both twins. "So, what exactly you happened? Were you able to contact that godfather of yours?"

"I did. He told me to wait at our home." Shin replied quickly to his teacher. Mr. Fujin looked at the teenager's face if he was telling the truth. So far, there were no signs of lies in his face.

"And why that choice?" He asked.

"It would be easier to get us there as it is on the way to his home after work." Shin still kept the same face when answering. Was it worth lying for the small chances that their father would be at home? For him, the only thing he wanted was to keep Hikaru in ease about the situation.

"If you say so." Mr. Fujin started the car before heading back towards the neighborhood. Everyone stood quiet during the short trip as Shin guided his teacher around the area. It took a couple of minutes to arrive at their home. The twins looked at their surroundings, but everything looked intact from outside.

It felt off for them.

"Is this place?" Their homeroom teacher asked.

"Yep, it is here." Hikaru said as she left the car alongside her brother.

"I can wait here until your godfather arrives."

"That's not necessary, but thanks." Shin politely refused as he grabbed the sheet to cover him and his sister from the rain.

"Alright. One thing before I go…" Mr. Fujin glared at Shin, giving off his usual terrifying aura. "I don't know the situation, and you aren't in the mood to tell me either. All I can expect is that you know how to handle this by yourself before giving up. See you in class." The teacher continued on his way, leaving the twins alone once again.

Hikaru slowly opened the front door while peeking inside if there was someone or something inside. For the moment, it was empty. They got inside with Shin ahead with a piece of wood on hand, in case of anything. They tried to turn on the lights, but the switch didn't work. Shin handed the cellphone to his sister to use it as a flashlight. What they said was a mess between the kitchen and the living room.

They decided not to stick around, so they went upstairs cautiously despite not hearing noises. Things weren't any better as Hikaru's room was still a disaster with her door destroyed.

"He is not here, where he could be?" The girl asked as they investigated the second floor. Neither needed to be a detective to notice the struggle across the house: Cuts on the walls, broken furniture, some of the portraits were on the floor, and the bathroom's mirror shattered. "Shin…"

"Yes?"

"Can I… can I sleep in your room? I don't think we can call Sato in this state, and I'm afraid of being alone right now." Hikaru's gloomy voice made her brother empathetic as he didn't object to her request. Shin gave a simple nodded as she went to her father's room to look for another sleeping bag she could use for the night. Shin went back to his room to make space for both of them. With their father gone and no idea of why the Shadows appeared, he felt lost on what to do. The best he could do was to look after Hikaru until he could come up with a plan on the next day.

* * *

**Tsuba Matsu: The Fool (El Loco) Rank 1.**

**\- New Skill: Third-Eye**


	9. Chapter 9

"_Awww, look at them... They are so tiny and cute!"_

"_Can I carry one of them? You already got them within you for so long."_

"_Sure thing, sweetie, try to carry him first."_

"_Hey there, little man, I'm your father. We finally meet each other after months of waiting. You might not recognize me at the moment, but I can assure you I will keep both of you and your sister safe. No matter what, there's nothing to fear as long I'm on your side."_

"_Are you crying?"_

"_N-no…! Alright, maybe I got carried over, but you know me."_

"_I do, but I wouldn't mind you being sentimental with our children. I think it is sweet."_

"_Now, I'm feeling embarrassed."_

* * *

**04/11, Wednesday, Early Morning.**

Shin slowly opened his eyes as soon he could get the sunshine coming from his window. Last night felt like a living nightmare: their wrecked home, their father disappearing, and Shadows appearing in the real world.

The twins could hardly grasp of the situation, and Shin didn't want his sister to feel depressed. Things didn't stop there as his latest dream was odder than usual. There was no Velvet Room that time around, but hazy memories from what he didn't recognize, at least, at first glance.

Why did he dream that? He tried to come up with a logical answer but got nothing.

"Shin, are you awake?" He heard Hikaru outside of his room. Odd, Shin didn't notice that she already woke up earlier. It was most likely that she got enough sleep after the incident. "Breakfast is ready."

Breakfast? After what happened yesterday? Shin looked confused as Hikaru sounded calmer for someone who panicked the previous night. He opened the door, taking a simple glance gave a different air that. Unsettling as he walked downstairs to see what his sister is doing. Shin expected the living room and kitchen to be somewhat wrecked, but not the case.

"What the…?" The teenager said with wide-open eyes as he saw the floor intact. Did Hikaru clean up early? How was everything intact? He gave an estranged look at Hikaru, which she noticed him with a more confused expression than him.

"Is something wrong? You haven't change into your school uniform." She asked while laying the plates on the table.

"What's going on? Did you do all this?"

"Doing what?" Hikaru replied as she rose an eyebrow.

"The kitchen, the living room, when did everything go back in order!?" Shin slowly raised his voice to the point of yelling, which freaked out his sister.

"Woah, calm down! Are you alright?" As Hikaru tried to reason, her brother stepped back as he noticed his exalted behavior.

"I… uhhhh…" He stuttered before sitting on the couch. The confused teenager looked down and scratched his head, trying to comprehend the situation. "Did last night happen …?" Shin murmured.

"You are not making any sense of what you are saying."

"Dad…" Shin abruptly stood up and walked towards Hikaru while looking uncomfortably close to her eyes. "Is… Dad here?"

"He left to work early as usual. Probably won't come back until tomorrow." Hikaru stepped away. "Tell me, aren't you into weird stuff? Because you are not acting normal."

Was everything a nightmare? Probably Hikaru's food was too much that imagined things. However, everything felt real through and through: The rain, the screams, even the darkness from walking down the street carrying his sister on his back was an experience he could not forget. At the moment, nothing was making sense because he perfectly remembered the promise with his father.

And yet, his perception was conflicting with the current perception.

"You should hurry, or we are going to be late for school." Hikaru said as she calmly started serving breakfast. Shin nodded before immediately rushing towards his room to get his school uniform.

Alone at the kitchen, there was a long sigh that nobody could know how long she kept it under the breath. Hikaru hyperventilated, covered her mouth with her hand while making the sound of very subdued sobs as she was busy at the stove. Hikaru tried to take a deep breath to regain her composure before her brother returns.

She expected to be a long day at school.

* * *

**Morning.**

"Unconceivable! How did you let that happen!?" One of the Elders furiously yelled at Amatsuki after hearing her story from the previous day at the river. The three Elders and Amatsuki were privately conversing inside of a small house where the old scriptures were stored.

"Take it easy, Demu. We couldn't foresee how long the effect would take." Elder Shira tried her best to reason, but the situation got far enough that could contain his desperation.

"The worst thing is not the fact that someone owns a Symbol, but the changes are occurring in this instant! Amatsuki should be collected all of those already, or none of this would happen in the first place!"

"Although it isn't too late to remedy this..." The third Elder, Zahazu, said as he read an old scroll. "According to this, if it manifests at early stages, it's still possible to prevent it by retrieving it before the next big storm, or so it says." The rest of the group looked closely at the manuscript, some with relief, but others still anxious.

"So, how exactly do I get the Symbol back?" Amatsuki asked.

"Unfortunately, that's the dangerous part since still bounded to the process."

"Which is…?"

"You must retrieve it from the root." The tanukis looked with fear as they understood what Elder Zahazu meant.

"I-Is it true?" Elder Shira trembled.

"There's no other way, the old manuscripts said it." Zahazu shook his head while rolled the document to put it back. Amatsuki was the least happy about it as she murmured in denial on the corner.

"This can't be, this can't be, this can't be…" She repeated with a non-stop manner that her throat began to hurt. "I… I refuse to believe it's the only way."

"Look, if you don't want to do it, we could ask someone else to take the task for you." Elder Demu's words were enough to snap the young tanuki out of that frightened state.

"W-Wait a second! I didn't say I wouldn't do it! But…"

"It's been twenty-four years since that incident. We know it was a painful experience, but doing this will help every one of not letting this happened ever again." Shira tried to reassure her by petting on the head.

"We understand that you already experience the horrors from Sitra Achra. We went there at some point in our lives too." Zahazu said as he sat next to Amatsuki.

"Can I have a moment to plan this out before going there?"

"As long you can resolve it fast, the better." Demu left the place alongside the other elders. Amatsuki decided to look for Maru about her dilemma. She ran almost far from the village until she saw Maru already waiting next to a tree with a nervous expression.

"Ama-chan. Did you learn something from the Elders?" He asked but didn't get a single word from her since she was lost on her thoughts by walking back and forth. "Hello? Earth to Amatsuki? Are you there?"

"Huh? Oh, right… Sorry, but this just going nuts." She took off her straw hat while sitting on a trunk. "They expect me to go 'there' again before this gets worse."

"Are you serious? You barely died two days ago!" Maru shook his head. "And now they want you to dive into the lion's den once again!" Both sighed in disbelief.

The worst of the worst. They knew well the risks of the task but never thought of going that far since there wasn't a case like since years ago. There was a time once when Maru offered himself to take the position of collecting Symbols for Amatsuki, but she wouldn't allow it despite not getting good results. In her own words, it was something she must do it. He still decided to help his friend anyway.

Going circles between their minds, it was a suicide mission. Unless…

"That's it!" Amatsuki stood up with fierce eyes as she tried to arm herself with enough courage before heading outside the village.

"Where are you going? Do you have a plan?" Maru chased after her.

"If they want me to get there, then I going to get help with this."

"So, you finally decided to let me accompany you?"

"Sorry, but you must stay. I need someone capable of dealing with the Shadows there."

"Someone capable? Who can do such a…? Oh." He realized it but not too eager for the idea. "What!? Have you lost your mind!?"

"What other option I have!?" She shouted in desperation. "If I want to survive, it is only logical to seek this guy."

"Y-You know the consequences if you interact with humans again! M-Maybe, we could get ourselves some weapons from my acquittance's friend living at a shrine…"

"Nah-uh! That won't be enough!" Amatsuki adjusted her hat in a manner that nothing would change her mind. "As Elder Demu said, he wants me to solve this fast as possible, and I'm doing exactly that."

"Oh boy, at least let me take the fault for you!" Maru was on his knees, begging to his friend of not taking the risk alone. "Please, just don't do this."

"Sorry, but this is something I must do, for everyone's sake." Right before stepping outside of the Komyo Forest, Amatsuki turned around to see Maru in such a state. She walked towards him by looking at the eyes directly. "At least, can you promise me to tell nobody about this?"

"I…" Maru trembled between words, but seeing Amatsuki fired up and driven was proof enough to no longer doubting of her choice. "I won't promise you; I will swear for my ancestors that no word from this will come out from me." He said while raising his right paw and touching his heart with the left paw.

"Thank you." Amatsuki hugged him before transforming into a normal tanuki. Maru only saw her running further until he lost sight of her. He had a lot of concerns, but their trust towards each other was unbreakable.

For now, Maru could only wait for her to return.

* * *

**Lunchtime.**

After agonizing hours of hearing the history teacher's boring lecture while getting sidetracked of talking about his childhood, the twins stretched their arms because they almost fell asleep. Hikaru looked at her phone as she had it in silence mode if she had messages.

"Hey, Shin."

"What's up?" He replied.

"I will see you tonight at home." Hikaru took her backpack as she was about to leave the classroom.

"Where are you going? School is not over yet." Shin seemed confused as he looked at the clock.

"I got a message from Aiko. She needs me to accompany her to the hospital."

"Oh, okay… I guess I will see you at home, then." The twins waved at each other before taking going on their separate ways. The moment Shin looked under his desk to pick up his phone, he noticed Yoshi sleeping soundly. Shin chuckled and decided to poke his head to wake him up gently. He tried a couple of times until he snored.

"Mhhhhh…" Yoshi yawned before straightening up his posture. He looked pleased due to his little nap. "Huh? The class is already over?" Yoshi asked Shin.

"Just minutes ago."

"Dude, I hope today's lecture isn't going to be included for the incoming exams." The easy-going student looked the empty classroom, just him and Shin. "Huh, where did your sister go?"

"She had to leave school early to see her friend at the hospital."

"Before lunch? Odd…" Yoshi shrugged. "Oh well, I hope to get a sandwich before the store's run out." Both teenagers left the classroom to get something to eat. Walking through the hall, Yoshi noticed Shin's mood if something was bothering him. "Something on your mind?" He asked bluntly, which caught Shin off-guard.

"Me? No, nothing, just thinking." Shin said without looking at his friend, but Yoshi wasn't convinced at all.

"Thinking, right, and I'm the next Prime Minister." Yoshi sighed. "You have been acting weird all morning. Did something happen yesterday?"

"I'm not sure anymore. You could say that I got a nightmare."

"What kind of nightmare?" Yoshi asked.

"One that my home got invaded by monsters and my father fight them off."

"What? That sounds like an awesome dream, though." Yoshi laughed off.

"But… I had to carry Hikaru on a rainy night, leaving my father fighting alone, gone from our lives." Shin's voice brought a somber tone, which Yoshi stopped smiling. Things felt awkward between the teenagers as Yoshi couldn't find the right words for a quick response.

"That's sounds… pretty crazy."

"It felt so real to me. Maybe the pizza from yesterday or Hikaru's food was too much."

"Maybe, but you don't have to worry if that was a nightmare." Yoshi commented as they stopped by the store where the old lady was selling soft drinks and different sandwiches. "Two chicken specials, please." The student said with a charming smile.

"Surely, sweetheart. That would be 400 yen" The old lady handed the lunches wrapped in plastic. These were still warm, freshly prepared with certain homely made.

"Here you go." Yoshi handed one of the sandwiches to Shin.

"Are you sure? I can pay one without a problem."

"Nah, consider this as my treat. Mama always says that food can light someone's day." Just like Yoshi said, it was enough to make Shin feel better as they shared time at lunchtime. They laughed and remarked of today's lecture, wondering if there are any more weird teachers in other schools. Yoshi looked at the hall briefly until he saw someone with confusion. "Yo, Shin."

"Yeah?"

"You said that your sister left to go to the hospital with her friend, right?"

"That's what she told me, why asking?"

"It might be my imagination, but I think I saw Aiko Murata entering the staffroom." Confuse Shin felt confusion from hearing Yoshi's comment. He didn't think twice for him to rush towards the room to ask Aiko about his sister's whereabouts. Shin opened the door, only to see Mr. Fujin talking with a female student in a wheelchair. She seemed as someone beautiful with long brown hair, almost reaching the waist and gray eyes with unique brightness. Curiously, she was wearing a tracksuit instead of a standard uniform. Shin asked himself if she's Aiko.

"I don't understand your question, Miss Murata." Mr. Fujin said as he seemed impatient as he tried to focus on both the papers and the conversation.

"The book you recommended us yesterday was confusing as it keeps explaining that the author is trying to expose the characters' motives but are very confusing since we don't get a clear explanation." Aiko said as she showed one of the book's pages.

"I know it may seem as going in circles with all exposition and blah, blah, blah… However, you shouldn't look at face-value, but the character's action and thoughts." The stern teacher pulled an old book from his desk and handed it to Aiko. "You should read _Men Under Fire and Rain_, by Satoi Kusama. He wrote this during the Meiji Restoration, so you can understand the difference between social classes that probably you couldn't understand at first."

"I suppose. Literature hasn't always been my thing." Aiko grimaced as she inspected the book's cover as it had nothing on it despite being a reprint of the original work.

"Nonsense, there's no such thing as…" Mr. Fujin's focus shifted towards Shin, who was still standing close to the door. "Do you need something, Maeda?"

"Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I would talk with her."

"Oh, you want to. If you don't have any business with another teacher or me, you have to wait outside." His homeroom teacher waved his hand at Shin, who complied on leaving. It wasn't worth the trouble of staying there, but wanting to know where Hikaru was, that became an urgent matter.

He waited two minutes before Aiko finally left the staffroom. The girl in the wheelchair didn't find Mr. Fujin's suggestion that helpful at the end, especially when now she had to read two books than before. Too much work and little time, she thought.

"You wanted to talk with me, isn't it?" She looked at Shin.

"Hi, I know we didn't talk before, but my name is Shin Maeda."

"Oh, right. You are Hikaru's brother. She mentioned you on Monday, still crazy that she had a twin this whole time." Aiko chuckled. "So, do you have something to asking me?"

"Yeah, I wanted to know if you have seen her. She told me of going with you to the hospital today."

"Today? Sorry, but she must be confused about the days since it isn't time yet."

Odd.

"Is that so? Well, I, thanks..." Shin hastily headed towards the men's restroom without saying anything else to Aiko. It was no dream, real enough that Shin tried to pinch his right cheek. He washed off his face in the sink and looked himself in the mirror while a question went into an endless spiral.

Why did she lie?

The Shadows, their home, and their father missing. All those things weren't a nightmare. He thought he was losing his mind after seeing everything back to normal but should've known better than Hikaru was covering it up. For what reason? What exactly could she gain from saying all at home?

That is until he remembered something that Hikaru commented off-hand. Never thought she would be serious about going back to that hideous place again to look for their father. But alone? It was clear what Shin had to do.

He already made a promise after all.


End file.
